The Fulton

County Board of Commissioners will wait until next week to vote on increasing

the pay for commissioners in 2003.

The vote was

one of the more controversial issues discussed by the County Commission

last year and was deferred twice.

The proposal

is to raise each commissioner's salary from $25,000 to $45,000 and the

chairman's salary from $27,000 to $50,000.

In a statement

released by his office, Chairman Mike Kenn said he supports raising the

salaries in general for elected officials, but could not support this

motion.

"I think

it would be inappropriate to give commissioners a raise in light of the

economic problems that the metropolitan Atlanta area is experiencing,"

Kenn said.

Kenn also added

the commission has consistently voted against raises for other employees

in Fulton County, so he could not support a raise for the commission.

But Commissioner

Bill Edwards said he will support the measure.

"I didn't

get into this job to get rich, so it's really not going to affect me one

way or the other," he said.

Edwards said

he has not heard from many of his constituents in South Fulton County

on the issue, and said the low pay often keeps qualified leaders from

choosing to run.

"There's

a lot of good people who can't afford to do this job, but are capable,"

he said.

Edwards said

his salary as a commissioner is used to pay for staff at his insurance

agency so he can free up more time to do the county's business.

He also spends

money out of his pocket for items such as stamps and printer cartridges

at his commission office, because the commissioner's staffing budget is

low, he said.

"Unless

there's a groundswell of support against this from my residents, I plan

to vote for it," he said.