Valley to study council pay raise

A little less than a year after voters defeated a proposal to raise Spokane Valley City Council salaries, the elected body is moving forward to create another salary commission that would likely recommend higher pay based on rates in other cities.

“I think a lot has changed for us financially and historically,” said Councilman Mike DeVleming, who suggested forming a new salary commission at the Sept. 5 council meeting.

The city’s budget for next year is balanced, many of the financial problems that arose in the city’s first years are now gone, and DeVleming said a higher salary could make serving on the council a possibility for more people.

Those who opposed the first suggested pay increase, though, say the council is ignoring the will of the voters.

“We had assumed that when it was so overwhelmingly turned down, they would realize that was the will of the people they are representing,” Sally Jackson said.

In addition to leading efforts to disincorporate the city, Jackson also headed a drive to round up 8,400 signatures in 12 days in 2004 that forced a public vote on the pay increase.

The action at Tuesday’s meeting moved the new salary-commission proposal to a second and final reading. If the council passes it, Jackson said, she would talk with her network of supporters to see if people want to attempt another referendum.

During the election last November, the raise was defeated 66 percent to 34 percent with 22,826 people voting.

That decision ended a process started in June 2004 when the council appointed the first commission to suggest salaries for mayor and City Council.

When the city formed, the Legislature set the salaries at the minimum allowed by state law until an independent commission could be formed to recommend something different. Those salaries, which are still in place, provide $400 per month to each council member and $500 for the mayor.

That amounts to salary costs of $34,800 per year.

The 2007 budget sets aside $88,613 for council salaries and benefits.

Most of that is spent on such benefits as life insurance and health insurance, including dental and vision coverage.

Five on the council take advantage of the medical plan at a total yearly cost of about $41,000, said city spokeswoman Carolbelle Branch. Different council members have signed up for different combinations of the other benefits, which take up the remainder of the balance.

The amount of time it takes to serve on the council can vary dramatically from week to week and goes well beyond the time spent at the dais during their Tuesday night meetings.

Councilman Bill Gothmann has been keeping tabs on hours he devotes to city-related work since joining the council last winter. He’s devoted about 1,000 hours to council business so far and averaged about 118 hours each month, according to his electronic organizer.

Based on the council alone, Gothmann and his colleagues have weeks where they earn well below minimum wage on a per-hour basis.

DeVleming argues that more compensation for that time will open the council up to a more diverse range of people who would not otherwise be able to afford to spend the hours away from work doing city business.

“It’s important that we set up a situation that will encourage future candidates,” he said.