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Pay hikes approved for Vancouver mayor, city council

Salary commission OKs 3 percent in 2019, 2 percent in 2020

By Katy Sword, Columbian politics reporter
Published: April 11, 2018, 5:29pm

As Magan Reed, Vancouver Salary Review Commission member, aptly described it, “this is it.” The five-member commission affirmed its recommendation Wednesday to increase pay for the mayor and city councilors by 3 percent in 2019 and 2 percent in 2020.

For the mayor, this means a salary of $2,563 a month in 2019 and $2,614 in 2020. The mayor pro tem’s salary will increase to $2,228 in 2019 and $2,273 in 2020. The rest of the council will be paid $2,005 in 2019 and $2,045 in 2020.

The recommendation was essentially finalized at the commission’s last meeting on March 30, but Wednesday’s meeting offered an opportunity for the community to comment on the proposed increases.

Only three people spoke, two of whom questioned the methodology the commission should use to determine salary increases.

Barbara Daniels asked the commission to look at wages as a percentage of the city’s budget rather than compare salaries to other cities.

“I think that might be a better way to think about it,” Daniels said.

The commission did actually look at what percent of the budget council salaries represent, as Commissioner Frank L’Amie pointed out.

Vancouver allocates 0.0006 percent of its budget toward the mayor’s salary, and 0.0005 for the mayor pro tem and council. The average based on the seven cities analyzed is 0.0012 percent for the mayor, 0.0010 percent for mayor pro tem and 0.0009 percent for council.

Peter Hodges asked the commission to make the salary increases based on merit — specifically if the council succeeds in approving a budget without tax increases.

“It seems like their answer to rising costs is to raise taxes,” Hodges said. “They keep squeaking these things in, and it’s getting to the point we can’t afford to live here anymore.”

Most of the commission said they understood his position, and L’Amie said he will keep an eye on the council’s performance in the next two years before the commission convenes again.

Royce Pollard, the former Vancouver mayor who helped lead a petition in 2016 to overturn the commission’s initial recommendation to increase wages by 117 percent for the mayor and 50 percent for councilors, congratulated “most of you” on the job well done.

“I wish you luck next time, because I’m sure I and other people will be watching,” Pollard said.

As seemed to be a trend for the commission this year, the process didn’t conclude without some confusion. The draft ordinance included a repetitive phrase that Assistant City Attorney Brent Boger proposed simply removing, but once the commission began voting to approve the recommendation they were interrupted. Classification and Compensation Analyst Aline Babine stopped the approval due to a mathematical error in the salary calculations.

After further review, the calculations were found to be correct.

With a new unanimous vote to approve the increases, the commission’s charge is complete. Chair MarCine Miles and Reed have termed out, Commissioners Richard Humphreys, Teresa Meyer and L’Amie will return in 2020 to consider salary changes for 2021 and 2022.

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Columbian politics reporter