The majority of Vancouver City Council members say they aren’t happy about their dramatic pay hikes, and some councilors believe the independent commission that awarded them needs oversight.
Five of the seven city councilors have signed a citizens’ referendum petition to retract the controversial pay raises the city Salary Review Commission gave the council last month. The raises go into effect in January.
In addition, a couple of councilors say voters should consider amending the city charter to set checks and balances on the salary commission, which has complete authority over the mayor and council’s pay. The charter establishes the commission’s authority and duties, and any change to the charter requires voter approval.
The only two city councilors who didn’t sign the referendum petition were Ty Stober and Mayor Tim Leavitt, a professional engineer who openly complains he’s underpaid for the amount of time he devotes to public office. Stober has said he’d rather focus attention on the city’s affordable housing crisis and ensuring the proposed affordable housing levy is placed on the ballot.
Petitioners Continue Efforts
Supporters of a referendum petition effort to retract the recently approved raises for Vancouver’s mayor and city council plan to meet again at 7 p.m. Monday at the IAFF Local 425 union hall, 2807 N.W. Fruit Valley Road, Vancouver. For more information, call Royce Pollard at 360-693-7526.
Thursday, Pollard said the petition has a third of the 4,000 signatures he hopes to gather. The petition needs about 2,800 signatures to be valid.
Petitioners were planning to be at the Vancouver Farmers Market this weekend.
“If somebody wants to come after the council, after the city, pick a real issue,” he said.
Stober said the salary commission’s process for setting the council’s pay for 2017-18 worked as it was supposed to.
“I may not agree with the outcome of that process, but I believe in the process. If I felt the process had been violated, say, if unauthorized meetings took place outside the public purview or if councilors had tried to exercise undo influence on the commission, I would be the first one signing the petition,” Stober stated in an email to The Columbian.
Stober said he does not plan to turn down the raise or donate it to charity, as some councilors have said they would. He said he and his husband already donate “very generously” to community organizations.
On April 20, the salary commission increased the mayor’s pay for 2017-18 by 117 percent, from $27,600 to $60,000 a year. City councilors’ pay is rising by 50 percent, from $21,600 to $32,496 a year. The mayor pro tem, a councilor who fills in when the mayor is unavailable, will see a pay boost from $24,000 to $37,500 a year, a 56 percent increase.
The mayor and council set policy and represent the city at a variety of civic and public events. City Manager Eric Holmes is in charge of city staff and operations.
The Columbian sent a four-question survey to all members of the city council regarding the pay raises. Leavitt, Stober and Councilor Alishia Topper declined to fill it out. Topper said that rather than discussing council salaries, “we should be talking about the affordable housing crisis and the fact that between Evergreen and Vancouver Public Schools, we have nearly 2,000 homeless students. People should be outraged.”
Here is how the other councilors responded.
Do you agree with the raises the salary review commission gave the mayor and city council?
Jack Burkman: No. Raising salaries will attract more candidates to run for city council, which would be healthy for the city. But it needs to be a slow process.
“Now is not the time to make a dramatic shift in what the mayor and council are paid,” he wrote. “The Salary Review Commission’s decision needs to be overturned. There are more urgent issues facing our city. Staffing up the Vancouver Police Department and addressing the affordable housing issue are much more urgent and important.”
Bart Hansen: No.
Bill Turlay: No. “Ridiculous,” he said in a voicemail message. “We’re taking a policeman off the street for the compensation of the council. I didn’t take the position for a huge financial reward for it.”
Anne McEnerny-Ogle: No.
Do you think there should be a referendum for voters to consider that would repeal the salaries the review commission approved this month?
Burkman: He would prefer to have a valid petition with sufficient signatures come before the council so councilors could repeal the Salary Commission’s decision without it having to go to a public vote. (Topper previously has indicated this is her position, too, so the council could avoid dragging out a painful and divisive community debate like that of the Columbia River Crossing.)
Hansen: Yes.
Turlay: “I don’t have a problem with that.”
McEnerny-Ogle: Yes.
Do you agree the salary review commission should have no oversight, as established by the city charter?
Burkman: No. “We need to convene the Charter Review Committee for them to address the issue of checks and balances — some form of oversight.”
Hansen: No. “There needs to be some oversight. They should have an established salary increase cap not to exceed the increases given to other city of Vancouver employees. If they decide to go over the cap, it automatically goes to the voters.”
Turlay: “I think the intent was good, and I don’t think it was thought through. We ought to form up a task force … and bring forward a charter change and get the process right.”
McEnerny-Ogle: “I believe we need some type of checks and balances.”
Do you think a referendum should be placed on the ballot to change or abolish the salary review commission?
Burkman: “I support doing what the city charter says — use the Charter Review Commission to engage the public, develop the solution, then take it to the voters.”
Hansen: “The raises need to be overturned, and clearly some form of change has to occur. … A restructuring of their authority, including the limitations, must be implemented through actions taken by the city council and the charter review committee. I believe the salary review commission serves a purpose. I do not like the idea of elected officials giving themselves raises.”
McEnerny-Ogle: “The Charter Review Commission should be called to serve in the first of 2017 to work on a checks-and-balances-process.”
(Turlay addressed this question in his previous answer.)
