Two former Vancouver mayors are working to overturn a decision by a city panel to more than double the mayor’s salary and give generous raises to the rest of the city council.
Bruce Hagensen, mayor from 1987 to 1995, said he’s exploring the possibility of putting something on the ballot asking voters to repeal the Salary Review Commission’s Friday decision.
“I think there are a significant number of people that believe the salary review commission made a mistake,” Hagensen said Tuesday. “We’re exploring ways to correct it.”
In order to put a referendum on an upcoming ballot, organizers would need to collect about 2,700 signatures within 30 days of the commissioners’ adopting the ordinance. That action is expected at a 9 a.m. meeting today at City Hall. The soonest the referendum could be on the ballot, according to the city’s charter, is during the next municipal general election, which is Nov. 7, 2017.
Public Meeting
• What: A meeting to discuss the current increase in wages for the Vancouver mayor and city councilors.
• When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: IAFF Local 452 union hall, 2807 N.W. Fruit Valley Road, Vancouver.
Royce Pollard, who served as the city’s mayor for 14 years after Hagensen, said the two former mayors are spearheading an effort to create a steering committee.
In addition to Pollard and Hagensen, the committee members include former Vancouver City Councilor Pat Jollota, former Democratic state lawmaker and county commissioner Betty Sue Morris, former Mayor Pro Tem Larry Smith, former Identity Clark County Executive Director Ginger Metcalf, former Republican Sheriff Garry Lucas and current salary review Commissioner Stan Girt. They are meeting Sunday to chat with volunteers.
“We will lead the effort to seek volunteers and people in the community who object to the 117 percent pay raise for mayor and more than 50 percent for city councilors,” Pollard said, calling the raises “outrageous.”
Pollard said the raises would effectively give the mayor a full-time job, which is not the city’s current form of government. City Manager Eric Holmes oversees the administrative duties and is paid $210,000 annually. The mayor’s job is considered part time. The mayor presides over city council meetings, and represents the city at a variety of civic and public events.
The pay hike approved last week increases the mayor’s monthly salary from $2,300 ($27,600 annually) to $5,000 per month (or $60,000) beginning in January.
Mayor Tim Leavitt, who testified in favor of the salary hike, will benefit from the 117 percent pay raise for at least one year. The increases take effect in January, and his current term ends at the end of 2017. Leavitt has previously said he’s not planning to seek re-election.
The commission, which was established by the city charter, met several times to discuss the salary increase.
The current monthly salary for the mayor pro tem, a city councilor who acts as mayor in the mayor’s absence, will go from $2,000 per month ($24,000 annually) to $3,125 ($37,500 annually), a 56.25 percent increase. The rest of the city councilors, who currently earn $1,800 monthly ($21,600 annually), will jump to $2,708 per month ($32,496 annually), in a 50.4 percent increase.
Overall, the salary commission members were divided between those who said more pay was necessary to attract a diverse pool of qualified candidates and those who pointed out it’s a public service position, not a full-time job, and should come with a small paycheck. They voted 3-2 to approve the raises.
The five-member salary commission, which is appointed by the mayor, has absolute power to set the salaries of the mayor and the council. The decision is not subject to review by the council.
Thomas Hackett, who sits on the salary commission, said Tuesday he’s pleased the community is getting involved.
“As I’ve mentioned to other people, I don’t have a problem if the citizens of Vancouver think differently than we do as a salary commission,” Hackett said.
Hackett, who voted in favor of the raises, said his main priority is to do what’s best for Vancouver. He cast his vote, he said, after hours of discussion and analysis. He considered what would be a reasonable amount to ensure qualified candidates could enter the race but also ensure the job wasn’t attractive only because of the paycheck. He said he also factored in that all the elected officials also represent the city on various boards and committees.
The salary commission held several public meetings, he pointed out, over a period of months, before deciding to support the raises.
“I was doing my part, in terms of analyzing the issue and doing what I thought was best for the city of Vancouver,” he said. “I think the interesting part to me is, with all this effort going into putting a referendum on the ballot to change this, there wasn’t more engagement (earlier) … with the salary commission to have a thoughtful discussion about what would be best for the community of Vancouver.”
In comparable Washington cities with a city-manager form of government the salary commission reviewed this year — Bellevue, Yakima, Spokane Valley, Kirkland, Kennewick, Lakewood, Olympia, Pasco, Richland and Shoreline — the average monthly salary is $1,413 for mayors and $1,467 for councilors.
Leavitt testified last week in favor of the raise.
“Very simply, the effort necessary to meet the responsibilities and the accountability that our public demands of the city council, and more specifically the position of mayor, far, far outweighs the scant compensation that is offered,” Leavitt told the commission last week.
He said the current pay scale encourages retired individuals with a pension, or those who have some outside source of income, such as a working spouse, or who are independently wealthy, the mayor said. It discourages others, he added.
Leavitt didn’t return a call seeking comment on Tuesday, but in a text message he said he’s been told by some community members the raise was long overdue.
When asked directly what he thought about the effort to put the question of raises to voters, he responded, “Best of luck!”
