PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve a resolution today changing how the county’s non-judicial elected officials are paid and providing a raise for each of the positions.
It comes after weeks of discussion among the county’s elected officials who were looking to restructure pay for the positions to be a percentage of a Superior Court judge’s salary, set to be $172,571 annually starting Sept. 1.
Officials said the change would take politics out of the equation, provide parity with others in comparable positions across the state and include regular cost of living increases as the Washington Citizen’s Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials makes changes to Superior Court judges’ salaries.
Commissioner Mark Ozias directed County Administrator Jim Jones to prepare a resolution setting all elected officials — with the exception of the county prosecuting attorney and sheriff — at 50 percent of a Superior Court judge’s salary, or $86,285 per year.
The prosecuting attorney’s salary would be 89 percent of a Superior Court judge’s salary, or $153,588.19 annually, and the sheriff’s salary would be set at 72 percent, or $124,251.12 per year.
The new salaries would take effect after the next election for each position, meaning the salaries for the assessor, auditor, District 3 commissioner, director of the Department of Community Development, prosecuting attorney, sheriff and treasurer would each take effect Jan. 1, 2019.
Salaries would change for the District 1 and District 2 commissioners Jan. 1, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2021, respectively.
Jones presented a resolution showing most elected officials salaries set at 52 percent, but Commissioner Bill Peach, whose seat is up for election this year, was first to say commissioners should opt for the lower 50 percent salary.
He said the board needs to take into account the county’s negotiations with the union and how the salaries of others compare to the elected officials.
“I’m just not interested in eroding our trust and relationships with the rest of the staff,” he said.
Though the 50 percent option wasn’t the highest on the table, it would represent about a $8,700 raise for each of the commissioners — about an 11 percent increase of their salaries this year.
Commissioners would earn $86,285.50 per year, compared to the average of $77,559.48 they earn now. The average salary for comparable counties, which include Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, Lewis and Mason Counties, is $82,014.12, according to monthly salary data provided by Jones.
Sheriff Bill Benedict said the raise is needed and that it doesn’t break the bank.
“The kind of leadership [other elected officials] have displayed since they’ve been here … should be rewarded,” he said.
Ozias suggested that the elected director of Community Development should earn 60 percent of a Superior Court judge’s salary, arguing that good DCD directors have professional experience in that field, though he said “there’s a strong argument either way.”
Clallam County is the only county in the country that has an elected DCD director.
Commissioner Randy Johnson said the DCD director’s skills depend on whoever is elected.
“It could be someone else who doesn’t have that background at all, which has happened,” he said, arguing in favor of the 50 percent number. “Tomorrow someone else may run, they’re a wonderful person, but they don’t have any background.”
Ozias responded that the higher salary would increase the likelihood of attracting a professional, though Peach and Johnson were each in favor of setting the salary at 50 percent instead of 60 percent.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
