Vancouver City Council votes to repeal pay hikes

Vancouver city councilors voted unanimously on Monday to repeal a decision by the city’s salary review commission to increase councilor wages and more than double the mayor’s salary.

Mayor Tim Leavitt, who championed the pay hike, joined the council in forcing the salary commission to revisit their decision. Leavitt noted that the all-volunteer commission deliberated extensively and studied other cities’ pay structures before making their decision and said it’s been a long time since the mayor and council had received wage raises. But, he added, “maybe the jump was too big,” and he expressed hope that the commission lands on an amount “that seems to be more palpable.”

Shortly after the April 20 vote to raise the mayor’s and city councilors’ pay, two former Vancouver mayors — Royce Pollard and Bruce Hagensen — and former city Councilor Pat Jollota spearheaded an effort to repeal the pay increases. They collected 3,049 signatures to qualify it for the ballot. Because the measure qualified, councilors had the ability to address the matter themselves.

The former city officials testified against the pay hike again on Monday.

“No one is questioning your desire, your commitment nor your willingness to give your time to your community,” Pollard said, urging the council to repeal the “outrageous” salary hike.

Pollard said it’s time the council did “the right thing.”

“Tell the salary commission, in your strongest possible terms without giving orders, that you desire (they) reduce that amount significantly,” Pollard said, adding he believes a 2.5 to 3 percent raise is more appropriate.

Current Vancouver city Councilor Anne McEnerny-Ogle agreed.

“When I applied for this job, I knew what the contract was,” she said.

The five-person salary review commission is expected to reconvene to reset the salaries before the end of the year. Those behind the effort to reject the raises said that if the commission approves another pay hike they find unreasonable, they will fight to retract that raise as well.

In April, the salary commission voted 3-2 to increase the mayor’s pay for 2017-19 by 117 percent. The pay hike would have increased the mayor’s monthly salary from $2,300 ($27,600 annually) to $5,000 per month (or $60,000 annually) beginning in January.

The current monthly salary for the mayor pro tem, a city councilor who acts as mayor in the mayor’s absence, would have gone from $2,000 per month (or $24,000 annually) to $3,125 (or $37,500 annually), a 56.25 percent increase. The rest of the city councilors, who currently earn $1,800 monthly ($21,600 annually), would have seen their pay jump to $2,708 per month ($32,496 annually) or a 50.4 percent increase.

Overall, the commission members were divided between those who felt a bigger salary was necessary to attract a diverse pool of qualified candidates and those who pointed out it’s a public service position, not a full-time job, and should come with a small paycheck.

Vancouver city Councilor Alishia Topper said she understands the core issue the salary commission struggled with: how to give a single mom, who wants to serve her community, a pathway to do so. Topper voted to reject the raises but added that if the city wanted to attract younger, less wealthy individuals, it would have to offer a stable pay rate.

The salary commission, which is appointed by the mayor, sets the salaries of the mayor and the council. The commission was established by the city charter and met several times to discuss the salary increase.