The Kaua‘i Salary Commission decided, in a 4-2 decision, to award a hefty pay raise to members of the Kaua‘i County Council, their first raise in eight years. Effective December 1, council members will receive a $33,400 annual salary, up
The Kaua‘i Salary Commission decided, in a 4-2 decision, to award a hefty pay raise to members of the Kaua‘i County Council, their first raise in eight years.
Effective December 1, council members will receive a $33,400 annual salary, up over 16% from their current $28,744 salary.
The chair of the council , currently Kaipo Asing, will receive $37,600, up almost 18% from this year’s $31,938 wage.
The commission also elected to raise salaries for council members another $1,700 (22% total), and $1,900 (23% total) for the chair, effective December 1, 2005.
While the commission did not make a formal statement on the raise, Mark Hubbard, the chair of the commission, said, when reached on his cell phone, that different commissioners had different rationale for their actions.
He said that issues raised include the recognition that “Council members need to put more time on the job, put in longer hours,” as well as an increase in responsibility with an increase in population and the complexity of issues.
Another issue raised was the Kaua‘i County Charter establishes the commission to set the salaries to a rational relationship with other county workers and are “adequate compensation for work performed,” said Hubbard.
“We felt this raise was justified,” said Hubbard. “We didn’t agree on every (issue), but they were brought.”
He added that the commission meeting was the fourth meeting this year that has dealt specifically with council raises. The commission took into account a great deal of public input raised at those meetings.
And the commission had already recommended salary raises for the other elected and appointed county officials, including the mayor, administrative assistant and all county department heads.
Raises for those officials were recommended and passed by the council in June, and were made effective July 1.
The Commission sets the salaries for county council members, so the changes do not require council or mayoral approval.
Salaries for councilmembers have been the same since 1996, although they dipped in 1997 and then returned to their current levels in 1998, Hubbard said.
As for what’s next for the commission, Hubbard said, “We are still looking at some other issues,” such as pay policy and developing any easier way for future commissions to make decisions.
“We still have to talk about those things,” he added.
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226) or email mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net
