Philip Kingston, Dallas City Council (Photo from Facebook)
East Dallas City Councilman Philip Kingston is in hot water down at City Hall. Officials say he owes $8,160 of his salary to taxpayers for missed council meetings.
If a council member misses more that 10 percent of meetings to which they are assigned to attend, the the city charter says that councilperson must pay back a proportional amount of their salary. The city claims Kingston has 11 unexcused absences out of 81 scheduled meetings, meaning Kingston missed 13.6 percent of all meetings and owes the city that percent of his $60,000 salary.
Kingston disputes the number of absences and the number of scheduled meetings, as ad hoc committee meetings and canceled meetings are not counted in the tally. There is also some confusion about what counts as being present, as Kingston claims he was partially present at one meeting, although he cannot be seen in the record video and his vote is not listed in the minutes, according to The Dallas Morning News.
He also thinks that he is being singled out because he has expressed displeasure with the performance of City Secretary Rosa Rios, who tracks the council members’ attendance, DMN reports.
City officials told the daily that they cannot remember when the last time a city council member was docked pay for absences.
