Olympia’s elected officials haven’t had a raise since 2008. Is it time for one?

An independent commission is taking a look at Olympia City Council members’ salaries to see if they need a raise — or a pay cut.

The city’s elected officials haven’t had a pay increase since 2008, according to City Manager Steve Hall. Since then, state Legislators’ salaries have increased by about 13 percent.

Olympia Mayor Cheryl Selby currently makes $19,968 per year, while Mayor Pro-tempore Nathaniel Jones makes $18,304 per year. The other council members each make $16,640 per year.

Olympia residents are being asked for their input, and may attend salary commission meetings. The next meeting takes place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in room 200 of Olympia City Hall. The final meeting takes place at 5:30 Sept. 19.

Written input may be sent to staff liaison Joan Lutz at jlutz@ci.olympia.wa.us.

The five-person commission, appointed by Selby and approved by the council, will make a final decision by Oct. 1, said City Attorney Mark Barber. According to state law, none of the salary commissioners can be a city official or employee, or be an immediate family member of any city official or employee.

“Basically, it had to be people who don’t have any tie to elected officials or city government,” Barber said.

There’s no cap on the increase or decrease the commission can enact for city officials’ salaries, he said. Any change in council salaries affects every council member. And the commissioners can increase or decrease benefits, too.

Increases take effect 30 days after the commission files the changes with the City Clerk’s office. Decreases take effect at the beginning of each elected official’s next term.

While making this decision, the commission examines a set of criteria, Hall explained during a July 11 Olympia City Council meeting.

Commissioners will look at comparable cities’ salaries. They’ll also take into account the workload — including city council assignments, inter-jurisdictional work, volume of emails and phone calls, and other indicators.

The commission also will take into account the unique nature of local council positions, given that Olympia is the state capitol, the county seat, and the downtown area for the region.

Olympia’s elected officials already make more than those in neighboring Lacey. The Lacey mayor makes $18,600 per year, while the mayor pro-tempore makes $17,280 per year. Lacey City Council members make $15,900 per year.

Lacey has a population of about 46,000, while Olympia has a population of 51,000.

In Richland, which has a population of 53,000, the mayor makes $16,344 per year. City council members make $13,344 per year. The city doesn’t have a mayor pro-tempore position.

The city of Tacoma’s salary commission recommended large pay cuts for its elected officials in 2015. At the time, the mayor made $96,117 per year, and council members made $43,576.

The commission recommended decreasing the mayor’s salary to $76,000 and the council members’ salaries to $38,000 in 2018.

However, the Tacoma salary commission amended its decision earlier this year. Elected officials will instead receive a $1,000 pay cut.

There are some fundamental differences between Olympia and Tacoma’s city governments.

While Olympia’s elected officials haven’t received a raise since 2008, Tacoma officials had climbed steadily since 1998, when the then-mayor and council approved automatic 2.75 percent annual pay raises. The salary commission ended that practice.

Barber also pointed out that Tacoma uses a different governmental model than Olympia. Tacoma takes the “strong mayor” approach, while Olympia has a city manager.

Tacoma is also a much larger city than Olympia, with a population of about 211,000.

This story was originally published September 9, 2017 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Olympia’s elected officials haven’t had a raise since 2008. Is it time for one?."