Citizen salary commission recommends raises for city council

  • 2019-01-28
Members of the Spokane Valley City Council, as well as the city's mayor, will be getting raises soon, thanks to the recommendations made by a salary commission. The officials have not had a pay increase for 13 years.

Last year, Spokane Valley appointed a five-person commission chosen from a number of volunteers. They were asked to discuss and evaluate the issue of raising city officials' pay. Currently, the pay for officials is $9,000 per year for council members ($750 monthly), and $975 monthly for the mayor. These pay scales were set in 2006.

The new recommendation, issued recently, is that council members be paid $1,415 monthly, and the mayor, $1,775 monthly. The increases will go into effect in February. The commission's chairman, Bill Gothmann, said everyone on the committee was concerned by the length of time officials had gone without a pay increase. Also factoring into their decision was the increase in the size of the city, and the increased responsibilities that come with growth. Members of commissions like this might use flyer printing to create a community newsletter to keep residents informed.

The commission looked at three factors in determining the new pay scale: how long city council members spend working on duties related to the city; a survey of citizens; and the salaries of officials in similar cities. Eventually, they considered nine comparable cities to make their final determination: Yakima, Kirkland, Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, Burien, Shoreline, Olympia, and Lacey.