Hooray for Royce Pollard and Bruce Hagensen, former mayors of Vancouver, for taking up the banner to reverse the obscene pay increases approved by the Salary Review Commission.
As proposed, the mayor of Vancouver would receive $60,000 a year to attend four meetings per month lasting four to five hours each. That’s $1,250 per day, or $312.50 per hour. A member of the Vancouver City Council would each receive $32,496 a year for attending the four meetings a month at $677 per day, or $169.25 per hour. Nothing in the city charter would require any minimum education or skills to be a councilmember.
The members of the Clark County council each receive $42,000 per year as full-time employees working eight-hour days. That’s roughly $161.54 a day. Like the city, there are no minimum education or skills to be a councilmember.
Teachers, on the other hand, work a minimum of 180 six-hour work days, and a beginning teacher receives $34,048 with a baccalaureate degree. A teacher earns $40,820 in the first year with a master’s degree, which he or she must get after three years of teaching. That’s a rate of $226.78 per day.
Something is seriously wrong when a salary commission says a full-time teacher with a master’s degree is less important than a part-time mayor and council; $1,250 per day versus $227 is just plain obscene. We need to get rid of this Salary Review Commission, which is out of touch with the people.