Port of Vancouver chief’s salary under review

The salary and car allowance of the Port of Vancouver’s top executive will undergo a review today by the port’s elected three-member Board of Commissioners.

Executive Director Larry Paulson earns $165,600 per year and receives $500 per month for expenses related to his use of a car for port business. Commissioners are expected to meet in executive session (closed to the public) at 8 a.m. at the port’s administrative office, 3103 Lower River Road in Vancouver, to conduct an annual review of Paulson’s performance.

Any decisions the commissioners make must be done so in public, and commissioners are slated to decide Paulson’s compensation in open session, which begins at 9:30 a.m. today.

Last year, the Board of Commissioners made no changes to Paulson’s salary. It’s unclear what will happen this time.

Commissioner Brian Wolfe said Monday he would prefer to keep Paulson’s salary unchanged. If the port was a private-sector operation, Wolfe said, “we’d give him a huge bonus” because the port, under Paulson’s supervision, has achieved solid revenue growth and many other successes.

But the port is a public-sector operation and “we have to be conscious of what the taxpayers think,” Wolfe said. Even though the port is doing well, other local governments, including Vancouver and Clark County, are hurting, Wolfe said, so to give Paulson a raise would not “pass the smell test.”

Commissioner Jerry Oliver sees it differently. While raising Paulson’s salary may not play well with some taxpayers, Oliver said, the port is “excelling in a down economy” and contemplating growth and expansion. As a result, Oliver said, “I personally am inclined toward some recognition of success,” especially since Paulson’s salary went unchanged last year.

Paulson, who’s been the port’s executive director since 1999, last received a boost in his salary in 2009. It went from $159,120 in 2008 to $165,600 in 2009 — a 4 percent increase.

By comparison, Port of Longview Executive Director Ken O’Hollaren earns a salary of $131,664. The Port of Tacoma’s executive director, John Wolfe, earns an annual salary of $220,000. Vancouver City Manager Eric Holmes earns $161,500.