Thurston County’s elected officials could get a combined $56,000 in raises in 2020
Proposed salaries for 2020 would give every Thurston County elected official a pay raise, with increases ranging from 3.8 percent to 10.7 percent.
The county’s Citizens’ Commission on Salaries will receive testimony on the proposed salaries at a public hearing Dec. 9, according to a county press release.
Sheriff John Snaza and Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim are slated to see the biggest pay increases if the Board of County Commissioners approves the citizens’ commission’s recommendations, with Snaza getting a 7-percent raise and Tunheim getting a 10.7-percent raise.
Data from the county shows that none of Thurston’s elected officials saw salary increases between 2009 and 2016. Clerk of the commission Ruth Elder said the citizens’ commission froze salaries, then didn’t meet at all for a few years. Starting in 2016, every position has seen a raise of at least 2 percent per year.
For a county-to-county comparison, Kitsap County has a similar form of government to Thurston and a “fairly similar population and geography,” Elder said.
According to data from Thurston County, in 2019, Kitsap’s Clerk, Auditor, Assessor, Coroner and Treasurer all made about 4 percent more than Thurston’s. The commissioners made almost 9 percent more. The prosecutor here made about 2 percent more than Kitsap’s, and the Sheriff in Thurston made about 8 percent more.
Arguments behind the two biggest 2020 increases
To come up with its proposed salaries, the citizens’ commission considers several factors, Elder told The Olympian. It looks at the salaries of elected officials in other counties, cost-of-living data, and how elected officials’ salaries compare to the salaries of their subordinates.
That last factor — what Elder referred to as salary “compression” and “inversion” — is part of the logic behind Sheriff Snaza’s proposed 7-percent raise. In the sheriff’s case, the concern was “inversion,” or the number of Sheriff’s Office employees who currently out-earn Snaza.
According to meeting minutes from Sept. 30, Snaza told the citizens’ commission that salaries of bargaining-unit employees were impacting the salaries of captains, chiefs, and the undersheriff, but not his.
Snaza is making $146,160 in 2019. County data show that Undersheriff Tim Braniff, in comparison, is making $177,936. Chief deputies are making almost $164,000; the operations lieutenant and a captain are making more than Snaza, too.
In an interview with The Olympian, Snaza said he feels “very blessed about” what he gets paid, that he loves his job and doesn’t do it for the money. And, he said, he would “definitely forgo” his increase if he was “guaranteed more deputies.” But making less than others in the department doesn’t provide much motivation for someone to become sheriff, he says.
“The way I explained it to the salary commission is that it’s really hard to do succession planning if there’s no reason for them to want to better themselves,” Snaza said. “Because why would anyone want to be the sheriff if everybody else gets paid better?”
Tunheim’s position is unique: While the county commission still has the final say, his salary also is tied to state law. In a letter to the citizens’ commission, Tunheim wrote of an amendment the state Legislature made to a statute governing county elected officials’ salaries in 2008.
“The legislature finds that the salary of the elected county prosecuting attorney should be tied to that of a superior court judge,” part of the statute reads.
Prosecutor Tunheim said in an interview with The Olympian that the Legislature recognized that there was “a lot of disparity across the state” in elected prosecutors’ salaries — some are managing smaller offices, he said, but still have similar responsibilities.
“The idea was, and the Legislature ultimately agreed, that the prosecutor is really the executive-branch peer to the superior court judge,” Tunheim said. “The decisions we’re making are at that same level ... different kinds of decisions, but the level of the decision is the same.”
The state pays half of elected county prosecuting attorneys’ salaries across the state, like it does for superior court judges.
The state’s salary commission already set salaries for superior court judges that include increases in 2019 and 2020. The state is on a different fiscal year, and neither increase has been applied to Tunheim’s salary at this point, he wrote in his letter, though the state’s contribution increased.
His proposed salary from the citizens’ commission for 2020 is $190,980. The state commission, according to its final salary schedule for 2019 and 2020, set salaries for superior court judges effective July 1, 2019, at $190,985 and at $199,675 effective July 1, 2020.
Who’s behind the proposed 2020 salaries
The Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials sets the salaries of county commissioners and makes recommendations to the board of commissioners regarding the salaries of other elected officials. It’s composed of 10 citizens, though just seven currently serve, according to the county’s website.
Until this month, Elder told The Olympian, just five members had been actively participating.
Thurston County commissioners recently voted to change an ordinance that required a minimum of six members of the citizens’ commission to vote to set salaries. The ordinance now requires an affirmative vote of “no less than 60 percent” of members present at a meeting to take any sort of action.
Elder said the people who were not participating, even with reminders to attend meetings, have been removed from the commission. One of those positions was filled by the auditor drawing from a lot of eligible registered voters. Another vacancy was recently filled by a business representative who had applied, according to Elder.
One of the remaining vacancies on the commission is for someone with legal experience to serve as its “Legal Profession Representative.”
A public hearing is coming up
County residents can have their say about the proposed salaries at 6 p.m. Dec. 9 in Room 152 of Building 1 of the Thurston County Courthouse.
The commission also is accepting written comments until 5 p.m. Dec. 4. Comments can be submitted in person at 929 Lakeridge Drive SW, Room 117; mailed to Ruth Elder, Thurston County Human Resources, 2000 Lakeridge Drive SW, Olympia, WA 98502; or emailed to ruth.edler@co.thurston.wa.us.
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 7:00 AM.
.jpg)