As a first order of business, the newly elected members of the Cape Coral City Council repealed the controversial stipend that essentially doubled the paychecks of the previous board.

Three of the newly elected members of Council — Councilmember Derrick Donnell, who brought the stipend up for discussion, Laurie Lehmann who jumped in, and Joseph Kilraine — vied to make the motion to repeal Resolution 351-23 with Jennifer Nelson making the second.

The motion to repeal passed 5-3 in the wake of discussion as to whether it was allowable with Donnell, Lehmann Kilraine, Nelson and Rachel Kaduk voting in favor and Mayor John Gunter and council members Keith Long and Bill Steinke voting against.

The action should have come as no surprise.

Every candidate running for Council said they would repeal the stipend, including the three incumbents who were not re-elected and had not voted for the cash grab — $5,000 per month for the mayor and $3,333 per month for city council members — in addition to their city charter dictated salaries, $48,095 for the mayor and $41,920 for council members as of Jan. 6 when they got their cost-of-living increases of 3.2%.

The repeal goes into effect immediately with City Attorney Aleksandr Boksner authorized to draft a resolution to that effect.

We would say kudos to Council on its first order of business but the vote to repeal was not unanimous so kudos to the board’s new members for keeping their first campaign promise on Day 1.

We do expect the matter of council compensation to come back to Council at some point, in all likelihood before the next municipal election in 2026.

We have no issue with that — none — so long as Council doesn’t attempt another san-discussion end-run around the charter but properly comes to the voters with sound argument that they deserve more money because they earn it through their efforts on behalf of the taxpayers who underwrite those paychecks.

Breeze editorial