Voters to decide on council raises

Voters in Spokane Valley have the chance to more than double City Council members’ salaries, or bring them closer to minimum wage, depending on how they look at it.

Approval of Spokane Valley’s Proposition 1 on Nov. 8 would increase each council member’s monthly salary from $400 to $900. The deputy mayor would make $1,000 per month, and the mayor’s salary would increase from $500 to $1,200.

The raise would bring the amounts closer to the salaries in similar Washington cities.

“This is strictly up to the wishes of the voters,” Sally Jackson said.

Jackson, a leader in Valley disincorporation efforts, led a petition drive last year that gathered 8,400 signatures in 12 days to put the raise on the ballot after a council-appointed commission recommended the increase.

She said she doesn’t want to see council salaries double, but she stopped short of speculating on how the proposition will fare.

“Who knows how the voters are going to go?” Jackson said. “I never thought they would vote for incorporation.”

When the city formed, the Legislature set council member salaries at the minimum amount allowed by state law until a salary commission in the city could recommend new figures.

The City Council appointed five members and an alternate to the commission in June 2004. Later that summer they made the recommendations that will appear on the ballot. The signatures came in too late for the county auditor’s office to verify them before the 2004 election, so the item was held for the ballot this year.

The commission arrived at the new salary recommendations after looking at other Washington cities with a council-manager form of government and considering the amount of time that goes into council duties.

The 10 cities evaluated ranged in size from Vancouver with 145,000 residents to Richland with 39,000. Spokane Valley has about 85,000 residents.

Council salaries in the group ranged from $650 per month in Kirkland (population 46,000) to $1,650 in Bellevue (population 111,000), according to the commission’s final report. The average salary in the group was $925 for council members, $954 for the deputy mayor and $1,223 for the mayor, according to data gathered for the report last year.

“I would certainly appreciate being paid more for the job, but when I ran for the council I never looked at what the salary was,” said Mayor Dianna Wilhite.

Council members have said repeatedly that they didn’t run for office for the money, and some have reported losing income as a result of the council’s time commitment.

The mayor said she spends easily 20 to 40 hours per week on city business. Other council members have said it ranges between 15 and 40 hours per week.

At 15 hours per week, the current council member salary is about $6 per hour. If council members work 30 or more hours per week for a month of council business, that number drops to about $3 per hour. Washington’s hourly minimum wage is $7.35.

The pay raise would cost the city an additional $49,000 per year.

It does not include an annual cost of living increase.