Edmonds mayor Gary Haakenson got an unexpected surprise Tuesday, May 20 – a raise of nearly $24,000 a year.
Starting July 1, 2009, when the second of two now planned raises kicks in, Haakenson’s salary will be $125,004. He currently earns $101,412.
The third-term mayor of the city of 40,000 was reelected in November.
“I’m surprised. That’s about all I can say,” Haakenson said during a break in the May 20 City Council meeting. “I did not instigate the raise and I did not ask for it.”
Haakenson’s raise was approved by a vote of 5-2, with councilmembers Steve Bernheim and Deanna Dawson dissenting.
The council took steps to off-set the mayor’s raise, reducing their future councilmember benefit packages by an estimated $31,000 a year.
Haakenson’s raise will be phased in. He will get an extra $983 a month starting July 1, 2008 and a further $983 a month raise starting July 1, 2009. In full, it will represent a 23.3 percent raise for Haakenson.
According to Edmonds’ Citizen Commission on Compensation of Elected Officials, Haakenson’s salary was only in the 39th percentile for similar positions in similar cities. The raises will elevate him to the 50th percentile.
Bernheim questioned the wisdom of a significant raise in the midst of an increasingly tight budget. Haakenson has said the city needs to cut $500,000 from its next budget.
“I think the mayor is a highly competent individual and he does not make as much as he could in the private sector. But this is not the private sector,” Bernheim said. “What programs are we going to cut to pay the new salary of a mayor who knew what he was going to make when he was elected?”
The full $23,592 raise was a surprise.
A smaller compensation package with two 3.5 percent raises had been recommended by the citizen commission. The recommendation included deferred $400 monthly payments payable when Haakenson left office.
If the city wants its salaries to be competitive, it shouldn’t wait, said councilmember Ron Wambolt, who proposed the larger package.
“The commission was right in their assessment, but the 3.5 percent increase would not work fast enough,” he said.
The cuts in the council’s health care benefits will also work slowly.
By law, no current councilmember can have his or her compensation reduced – or raised – in his or her term, city attorney Scott Snyder said. Changes take effect after the next election.
The city currently pays around $31,300 a year for medical and dental coverage for the families of councilmembers, said Debbie Human, human resources director for the city. The council eliminated the benefits for the families of councilmembers.
Councilmembers also get an annual $7,200 salary, and a maximum $4,800 of meeting pay per year. That puts Edmonds councilmembers in the 52nd percentile, according to the commission.
Insurance costs are rising fast, Human said.
DJ Wilson, a first term councilmember, and a 31-year-old father of two young children, criticized the change. Medical benefits were not the reason he ran for office in November, but they are valuable for young parents like himself, Wilson said.
Wilson said councilmembers in Edmonds are told their job takes 20 hours a week, but he’s found he usually works at least 24 hours a week – and sometimes as many as 32 hours a week.
The changes will reduce the voice young people have in local government, he said.
Still, the salary commission felt they were necessary, said Lisa Speer, who chaired the commission.
In 2006, an earlier salary commission made the same benefits-reduction recommendation. It was rejected.
Together with the expanded raise for the mayor, the council’s actions were surprising, she said.
“I’m shocked, but it is a good shock,” Speer said. “The insurance portion was a major issue for the commission. It was something we felt needed to be restructured.”
Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com
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