Salary commission will be formed

On Tuesday the Spokane Valley City Council unanimously gave the go-ahead to form a new commission that will evaluate its salary.

A similar commission was formed in 2004 and its suggested pay raise was turned down by voters last November after a referendum led by foes of the city.

“It’s always going to be controversial,” said Councilman Steve Taylor. But he and others on the council said they felt a higher salary was important to draw a diverse pool of future council candidates and to make the office an option for those who can’t afford to take the amount of time away from work that council service requires.

In a new city, Washington law sets the stipend at $400 per month for council members and $500 per month for the mayor.

All seven council members also receive some combination of insurance benefits funded by the city that together cost more on a yearly basis than their salaries combined.

Once a city is established, the law then outlines a process for an appointed commission to determine what the salaries should be based on similar Washington city councils.

“They based their recommendations and decisions on an independent market analysis,” Taylor said.

A salary commission recommendation becomes law unless enough signatures are collected to place the item on the ballot.

One person testified against the ordinance forming the commission.

“I think you deserve more money, but I want to see you make the decision, not a commission,” said Planning Commissioner Bob Blum.

A better process, he said, would be for the council to decide to change the salary by resolution, hold a public hearing and vote on it with the caveat that the change would not take effect until after the next election.

Council members maintained their support of the commission process and took the first step toward soliciting potential commission members.

Councilman Rich Munson said that Howard Herman and Sally Jackson should apply to be on the commission. Both worked to gather the signatures that put the last commission’s recommendations on the ballot, and Jackson has led efforts to disincorporate the city.