Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud will get a 25% pay hike over two years after the City Council unanimously approved Tuesday, Dec. 9, the recommendations of a city commission to boost his annual base salary above $200,000, making him possibly the second highest-paid mayor in the region.
Hammoud was to receive a base salary of $168,775 for 2025, but now will get a 22% increase to $205,906 this year that will apply retroactively for all of 2025. In 2026, Hammoud will get another pay hike of 3%, earning $212,083 for his base salary. The total increase in pay for the Dearborn mayor, who leads a city with 107,410 residents, over the two years is 25.7%.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s salary for 2025 was $224,573, said city spokesman John Roach.
The city of Dearborn’s Local Officers Compensation Commission (LOCC), which meets every two years, submitted its report recommending the pay raises to the city clerk on Nov. 13. Under the state’s Home Rule City Act, the LOCC for cities with more than 20,000 residents should have seven members; the city of Dearborn’s website lists eight members for its LOCC.
Some residents have raised concerns about the pay hikes given that there were health care benefit cuts in recent years for city employee retirees. Some members of Dearborn’s LOCC, including chairman Karl Fava, have donated money to the campaign of Hammoud, adding to the concerns of some residents about the process for determining his salary. Residents made similar complaints in 1999 when the LOCC gave Mayor Michael Guido a 37% pay hike. Hammoud’s salary became an issue during the race for mayor when his opponent noted his salary is higher than that of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; the LOCC did not submit its report recommending the raises until after the November election.
The LOCC defended the substantial increases, saying in its report that the current salaries for the mayor and other officials “are not competitive with comparable cities and requires an adjustment.” The commission did not say which other cities it was referring to or why elected officials in Dearborn would be competing to be officials in other cities.
In a statement to the Free Press, Dearborn city spokesman Hassan Abbas said Hammoud had nothing to do with his pay raise.
“Mayor Hammoud did not request nor advocate for an increase to his annual compensation package,” Abbas said. “The Local Officials Compensation Commission (LOCC) meets every two years, by state law, to review compensation packages for elected officials. The Commission then provides the recommendation for all electeds and the City Council votes on the matter. The Compensation Committee recommended that the current mayor’s compensation be brought up to a level corresponding to the previous mayor’s pay and to a level comparable to city executives (mayors and city managers) in similar communities.”
City Council members will also get substantial pay hikes. The annual base pay for the Dearborn City Council president, Michael Sareini, will increase by 18% to $23,152 for 2025, also retroactively for the entire year, and then an additional 3% for 2026 to $23,846. Other members of the seven-member council will also get an 18% increase for all of 2025 to $19,273 and an additional 3% increase for 2026 to $19,851. All council members also get $100 per meeting, with a maximum set at 85 meetings, up from the current 80 maximum, which would be $8,500 maximum per year. Health benefits for the elected officials will stay the same.
City Council President Pro Tem Leslie Herrick defended their vote to approve the pay raises for themselves and the mayor, saying at Tuesday’s meeting that the council has “good justification for what we’re voting on tonight.” Herrick said Dearborn elected officials were underpaid compared with those in other cities.
“This is a labor of love for us,” Herrick said. “For most of us, when we run for office, we’re doing it because we believe we can make a difference in our city or … we can listen to others and help them in their lives in Dearborn.”
“Thank you to the Local Officials Compensation Commission members for their due diligence In establishing these new salaries for our elected officials,” Herrick said. “They did numerous interviews … and what they found was that city of Dearborn’s elected official compensation was well under the state average and even the national average in a lot of cases.”
Sareini, the council president, agreed with Herrick.
“As the councilwoman had indicated regarding the LOCC, it’s not for the money,” Sareini said at the council meeting after the council approved pay raises for him and others. “I guarantee you that this is our way to give back, and everybody has to give a little bit back so we can keep our community going in the … right way.”
In addition to Fava, the members of the LOCC listed on the city website are Hassan Bazzi, Nadia Berry, Patrick J. D’Ambrosio (who’s also a Dearborn schools board member), Sandra K. Daniels, Kalid (Mike) Kaid, David Norwood and Maha Zriek Sabbagh. A majority were appointed by Hammoud and the others by O’Reilly. The Free Press was unable to reach Fava, an accountant, and D’Ambrosio did not return an email seeking comment.
Fava donated $1,500 to Hammoud’s campaign committee and also donated to former Mayor John O’Reilly Jr., who appointed him in 2020, Wayne County campaign finance records show. Fava was the chairman of the LOCC in previous years, city records show. In 2023, the LOCC, with council approval, raised the salaries of the mayor and all City Council members by 2.6% for 2023 and 2.6% for 2024. In 2015, the LOCC raised the salary of the mayor 5% to $137,690 and another 5% to $144,575 for 2016, a city report shows and the News-Herald reported.
The report appeared on the Dearborn City Council’s agenda ahead of the Dec. 9 council meeting. The agenda listed several items to be voted on, including the LOCC recommendations.
The LOCC first met in October to discuss the salaries for officials in 2025 and 2026, the report said. They met with Dearborn’s corporation counsel, Jeremey Romer, and other department heads. Bazzi was assigned to be chair of the subcommittee determining the mayor’s and clerk’s salaries, meeting with Hammoud on Oct. 28 to obtain information on salaries, the LOCC report said. Norwood was assigned to chair the subcommittee for the salaries of council members, meeting with Sareini, Herrick and Councilman Robert Abraham on Oct. 23.
The salaries for some other mayors and township supervisors of sizable suburbs in metro Detroit are: Canton Township Supervisor Anne Marie Graham-Hudak, $150,000; Warren Mayor Lori Stone, $125,642 for 2025 and also 2026, and Livonia Mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan, $144,954 for 2025. It’s unclear if Livonia will increase Brosnan’s pay this year. Livonia’s LOCC was scheduled to meet this year, city records show. Hammoud’s salary will be just below Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, who earned $230,000 in 2025, according to a document provided by county spokesman Doda Lulgjuraj. Wayne County’s population is about 1.75 million people.
Hometown Life and Free Press staff writer Christina Hall contributed to this report.
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, X @nwarikoo or Facebook @nwarikoo
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dearborn mayor’s pay hiked 25% over 2 years, boosting salary to $212k
Reporting by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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