EVERETT — A 21 percent raise has put an attorney who oversees Snohomish County’s Office of Public Defense at the center of a political furor over pay hikes for top managers.
County Executive John Lovick’s administration in November increased Sara Bhagat’s annual salary to $105,175.80, up from the $86,574.60 she was hired at a year earlier. The pay hike was made retroactive to the previous April.
Now it’s gone.
A majority of the County Council has been demanding that Lovick rescind Bhagat’s raise, after learning about it early this year.
“It’s fiscally irresponsible because we don’t have the money,” County Council Chairman Dave Somers said. “From a policy standpoint, giving these raises to the best-paid employees we have sets a bad precedent because we can’t do the same for the rest of our employees.”
Somers and two other councilmen have insisted that Lovick’s office failed to follow county code. At least three separate legal opinions from county attorneys supported their stance that the council, and not the executive, needs to approve the type of raise that Bhagat received.
The executive for months refused to roll back her salary, but gave in this week. The change is effective as of the end of 2014.
Lovick’s action came after an April 10 memo from Somers that included a copy of the executive’s oath of office and pledge to uphold the county’s charter and ordinances.
Lovick’s administration still believes Bhagat’s raise was appropriate, despite the reversal.
“It’s fair to say that we have a different interpretation of code,” spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. “This decision was about resolution for her. This battle could go back and forth. It’s not the outcome that we believe is right or fair to her, but this has turned toxic and that affects employees. It’s toxic for her and for others. And that’s why this decision was made.”
The Office of Public Defense represents indigent defendants in criminal and civil cases that could result in jail time. It also provides the court with information to set bail and to determine whether a person should be released pending trial. Bhagat runs an office with seven budgeted positions. The job involves no direct supervision of the 75 attorneys and staff who perform the public defense trial work. The nonprofit Public Defender Association does that under contract with the county.
The county executive’s office hired Bhagat in October 2013, after she rose to the top of an applicant pool with dozens of hopefuls. The hiring process included vetting by a panel with representatives from all three branches of county government and the defense bar.
Bhagat is the daughter of Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. People familiar with the hiring process said her qualifications, not family connections, landed her the job. She did not respond to requests for comment.
Her previous experience included stints as a public defender in both Snohomish and King counties as well as a running her own civil practice.
“She’s a very nice person, very competent,” Somers said. “I met with her twice to assure her it wasn’t personal.”
Lovick in the past has accused Somers of heavy-handed, bullying tactics. He did not return calls for comment on this story. The two Democrats have feuded for months on policy and personnel issues. Lovick is running for re-election this year, and Somers is weighing whether to enter the race for executive.
If the dispute over manager pay raises sounds familiar, it is. The councilmen who challenged the legality of Bhagat’s raise first brought up the issue of pay hikes a year ago. They objected to Lovick awarding a dozen of his highest-paid managers raises that averaged about 10 percent.
The issue became a flash point during debate over the 2015 budget, when the council rolled back six managers’ salaries.
At the time, the council was unaware of Bhagat’s situation, Somers said.
“When we heard about this after the budget, it just felt like a poke in the eye,” he said.
Lovick’s administration contends that raising managers’ salaries is necessary to make Snohomish County competitive with comparable local governments. In particular, they want to address what they consider unequal pay for women in county government.
“We wanted to make sure that one of the few female top leaders in our county was not being underpaid,” human resources director Bridget Clawson said.
Lovick also made that point in a March 30 letter to Somers. He said Bhagat was compensated less than her male counterparts.
“As you know, I am committed to erasing gender-based compensation discrimination,” he wrote.
Lovick’s solution was to bring the salary range for the person in charge of the Office of Public Defense in line with Department of Emergency Management director, Clawson said.
For Councilman Terry Ryan, however, the dispute boils down to following county code.
“The point is they’re outside of the law,” Ryan said. “They can give any excuse they want, but it’s still outside of the law. We just want the executive to follow the law. The executive has not ever been able to explain why he doesn’t have to follow the law.”
To resolve the issue long term, the council and executive’s office are preparing to pay a contractor up to $25,000 to study appropriate pay levels for county managers.
Top county managers, including Bhagat, are paid according to a table listing 18 different pay ranges. Within those ranges are 15 smaller pay increases called steps.
Bhagat in November was promoted to a new pay range with a yearly salary of $100,000 to $141,000. Her original pay range was between $82,000 to $116,000.
Now that Bhagat’s pay range has been reduced, the administration will consider granting her step increases instead, Hover said. Step increases don’t require council approval.
Most county employees have been receiving cost-of-living increases of about 1.5 percent in recent years. During the recession, the workforce endured layoffs, furloughs and wage freezes.
For Councilman Ken Klein, giving Bhagat step increases addresses his legal concern — not his sense of fairness.
“At least it won’t be illegal,” Klein said. “I’ve always had two concerns. No. 1, are they following the law? And No. 2, it’s wrong to do this to our 2,800 other employees.”
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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