Wage wise, council did what law requires

Thu., Oct. 21, 2004

The Spokesman-Review

Deborah Chan’s comment concerning the Spokane Valley City Council’s “salary raise” in the Oct. 16 Voice falls short of the true story.

When setting up a new city, the council sets the employees’ salaries, but who sets City Council salaries? State law, RCW 35A.13.040, comes to the rescue. “The salaries of the councilmen, including the mayor, shall be fixed by ordinance and may be revised from time to time.” However, prior to that occurring, this 1967 law prescribes an interim salary of $400 per month for councilmen and $500 per month for the mayor. The law goes on to say, “PROVIDED, that such interim compensation shall remain in effect only until a salary ordinance is passed.” Note that this is interim compensation, not their permanent salary.

Thus, the council did exactly what the law required – developed an ordinance to set their permanent salaries. Furthermore, they went the second mile by having an independent salary commission do the research and make the recommendation. The final amount figures out to be $5.76 per hour instead of their interim compensation of $2.49 per hour – not exactly gold standard wages.

Bill Gothmann

Spokane Valley

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