EVERETT — Everett City Council members and the mayor could get thousands of dollars in back pay after a heated discussion this week over when annual raises should go into effect.
City Councilman Mark Olson argued that pay raises for elected officials should have taken effect more than six months ago. Instead, the raises went into effect Jan. 1.
He forced a vote on the issue, and the council passed a resolution 4-3 supporting back pay for the elected officials.
Each council member could receive $1,050, and the council president and the mayor could receive several thousand dollars.
Mayor Ray Stephanson said he will not accept what he called a “retroactive” raise under any circumstances.
In April, the city’s salary review commission — a body that meets every two years to set salaries for seven City Council members, the council president, the mayor and two municipal court judges — approved raises for the elected officials.
The commission voted to increase the salary of council members from $21,900 a year to $24,000, the council president from $25,500 to $31,200, and the mayor from $133,776 to $141,500.
The commission also set the salaries of municipal court judges to $141,710 — the same as Washington state District Court judges.
The commission’s decision stated that all the changes were effective Jan. 1.
Olson insists the city charter actually sets the start date for raises 90 days after a new salary schedule is approved, barring a referendum to halt it.
That means the new salaries should have been reflected in paychecks dating back to mid-July, he said.
In 1996, before he was on the council, Olson helped write a new section of the city charter that created the Citizens’ Commission on Salaries of Elected Officials, modeled after a state commission approved by voters in 1986.
At the time, Olson said the commission would take the salary issue out of the political arena to ensure salaries will be high enough to allow more people to serve — not just those who are independently wealthy or retired.
Council President Drew Nielsen said the issue is not as cut and dried as Olson claims. Nielsen, who is also an attorney, said by meddling with salaries, Olson’s bill might overstep the council’s authority.
“(Olson’s resolution) came out of the blue without much opportunity for the council president to manage the situation,” he said.
City spokeswoman Kate Reardon said the city’s legal department is reviewing the salary commission’s decision to see if it is consistent with the charter. Stephanson said he considers the bill suspended until that review is completed.
“The city attorney has had four months and it is not a complicated question,” Olson said. “You really have to work overtime to find ambiguity with that section of the charter and I’m just surprised that there’s been that kind of internal reluctance.”
Olson, an attorney, was granted an extended paid leave of absence from the council last year amid allegations of sexual assault. Olson has not been charged with a crime.
Council members Olson, Shannon Affholter, Ron Gipson and Arlan Hatloe voted in favor of the resolution. Nielsen, Brenda Stonecipher and Paul Roberts voted against.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
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