The city of Battle Ground is looking for volunteers to serve on its newly reinstituted salary review commission. The three-member board will review and determine the salaries and health insurance benefits provided by the city to elected officials. Currently, city council members are the city’s only elected positions.
With only Councilor Brian Munson voting against, the council decided to reinstate the salary review commission at its Dec. 6 meeting. The city’s previous commission was disbanded by the city in 2014.
“There are two ways that council salaries or benefits increase. One is the council can increase them. When they do that, they do not take effect until the next election that you are elected,” Councilor Shane Bowman said at the meeting. “The second way, and a lot of agencies and jurisdictions are doing this, is they turn it over to a salary commission.”
Having a review commission set compensation rates means the council members won’t have to vote to give themselves raises, Bowman explained.
“It takes it out of our own hands, so people don’t think we’re giving (ourselves) our own pay raises. I know that can be an issue,” Bowman said.
Aside from a pay increase two years ago, as well as two years before that, Bowman said the council’s pay scale hadn’t been adjusted since the late 1990s.
Currently, the mayor gets $1,100 per month, the deputy mayor gets $1,000 per month and councilors get $900 per month. They are all eligible to join the city’s health insurance plan for employees.
Under state statute, pay increases and changes to benefits are only allowed midterm if set by a salary review commission.
Salary review commission members must live within the city of Battle Ground. Additionally, they cannot be an officer, official or employee of the city of Battle Ground, nor an immediate relative of an officer, official or employee of the city.
Commission members will serve a three-year term, although as a new board the initial members will serve staggered terms of one, two, and three years.
The commission must meet annually. Additional meetings, which are likely, will be decided by the commission. Two public hearings must be held before recommendations and a salary schedule are brought to the council.
Before that happens, Bowman said he would like commission members to work with the council members to get a better understanding of the work each member does and how much time they spend on their different activities.
Applications for the commission will be reviewed and appointed by Mayor Adrian Cortes, with approval from the city council.
Detailed information about the salary commission and an application to serve is available online at www.cityofbg.org/485/Salary-Commission. A deadline for applications has not been set, but they should be submitted as soon as possible.
