PORT ANGELES — If Clallam County Commissioner Jim McEntire sought to spark discussion with his modest proposal of whacking eight elected officials’ salaries, then he succeeded.
Sheriff Bill Benedict, whose pay, in McEntire’s preferred option, would be downsized to $88,437 from a scheduled $99,742 in 2015, called the first-term commissioner’s suggestion a “slap in the face to the other electeds.”
County Auditor Patty Rosand said it could discourage qualified candidates from running for office.
Sheila Roark Miller, the nation’s only elected county community development director, offered an alternative: raise revenue, perhaps with a tax on marijuana businesses.
County Commissioner Mike Chapman said there “may be a better avenue” to provide oversight of public salaries than McEntire’s proposal but opined that McEntire is “getting the ball rolling.”
McEntire framed his pitch for cutting the county officeholders’ pay in the context of expected reductions in revenues to the county from the state and federal government.
“We elected officials need to lead and set the example,” McEntire said at the county commissioners’ meeting Tuesday.
McEntire floated a list of options, saying he was partial to the concept of pairing an elected official’s salary to a part-time state legislator.
Under that system, the three commissioners, county assessor, auditor, treasurer and community development director would each earn $42,106 in 2015.
Those officials are scheduled to earn between $67,189 and $77,919 next year.
All told, the eight elected officials would earn a combined $383,179 next year rather than the $616,033 they are scheduled to take home.
The $232,854 reduction in combined salaries under McEntire’s preferred option is 0.74 percent of the $31.5 million general fund forecast for 2015.
McEntire specifically mentioned the three county commissioners, assessor, auditor, treasurer, community development director and sheriff in his proposal.
He did not include the elected offices of Superior or District Court judges, prosecuting attorney or clerk. He said the prosecuting attorney’s salary already is at the statutory minimum.
The state sets salaries for judges. It pays half of Superior Court judges’ and prosecuting attorney salaries, with the county picking up the rest. The county pays all of the District Court judges’ salaries.
Benedict said the idea of cutting elected officials’ pay is “penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
“It’s a symbolic gesture that’s empty of meaning,” Benedict said.
Public servants like Rosand and Assessor Pam Rushton, Benedict said, are required to work full time, if not more.
“It’s been their career,” Benedict said. “I think that’s ridiculous to cut their pay back.
“If the commissioners want to cut their pay, they should. That’s fine.”
Rosand, who is not seeking re-election this year, said the winner of the Nov. 4 general election would take a significant pay cut.
“There is no financial advantage for them to take this office and put themselves through the scrutiny that an elected official takes, and the responsibility that they take, for less pay than they are taking now,” said Rosand, who oversees 12 employees and works “full time-plus” as auditor.
“I won’t be here next year, so it’s not going to affect me, but I am concerned about the future of the office.”
Rushton declined to comment on McEntire’s proposal.
“I have some thoughts, but I’d prefer not to chime in until I get a chance to talk to him,” she said.
Doherty, who is not running for re-election, could not be reached for comment Friday but indicated Tuesday that he was opposed to McEntire’s proposal.
When asked in an email, Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis did not say how she feels about the proposal.
Benedict, who plans to meet with McEntire, said there are better ways to solve the county’s fiscal challenges than cutting officeholders’ salaries.
He noted that the Sheriff’s Office has received $3 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants over the past six years and consistently comes in $300,000 to $400,000 under budget.
“I’m a little bit offended that they think the solution is to cut my salary,” said Benedict, who works about 45 hours per week and is always on call.
For his part, McEntire said he would gladly listen to counter-arguments.
“It might be that we look at some of the other options where the commissioners are tied to the Legislature and the [elected] department heads have some different, higher salary level,” McEntire said in a Friday interview.
“There’s a couple of options on my list of options that are there and available for discussions as we go.”
McEntire, who is scheduled to get $70,590 next year, would take a 37 percent pay cut if his preferred option comes to pass.
A retired Coast Guard captain, McEntire declined to say how much he earns in retirement, noting that his financial forms are a matter of public record.
The state Public Disclosure Commission lists a $40,000 to $99,999 range for McEntire’s military retirement income and an additional $4,000 to $19,999 in federal Civil Service annuity, in addition to investments.
Having served his country for more than 40 years, McEntire said public service is a “calling” rather than a 9-to-5 job.
“I don’t do this for the money,” he said.
That said, McEntire said he recognizes the “qualitative difference” between a commissioner and a full-time department head.
“It’s a different work environment, different expectations,” McEntire said.
“The larger picture is revenue difficulties,” he added.
Although Clallam County has weathered the Great Recession, McEntire predicted “significant shortages in funding levels coming to county government from the federal government and the state.”
“I have no expectation whatsoever that we’re going to see revenue levels from outside the county even stay where they are today,” he said.
“We can see clouds on the horizon, and they’re coming our way fast. We’ve got to get ready. We’ve got to lead the way.”
Roark Miller, in broaching the idea of finding new revenue, said a tax on marijuana businesses, for example, could help fund law enforcement, planning, health and human services, and other county departments affected by the state’s recreational marijuana law.
Roark Miller,who is running for re-election in the Nov. 4 general election, oversees 22 employees, works at least 40 hours per week and earns about $15,000 less than her second-in-command.
Appointed department heads and other managers at the county generally earn more than their elected counterparts, according to Chapman.
As a third-year commissioner, McEntire said he works at least 40 hours per week with evening meetings and work-related travel inside and outside the county.
“Mike Doherty might even be more than me with the huge portfolio that he has,” McEntire said.
“Mike is a guy that spends a whole heck of a lot of time at work thinking about things.
“So [40 hours] is just me. It might not be indicative of another commissioner.”
McEntire, whose first term expires at the end of 2015, said he’s not trying to score political points.
“I’m trying to take into account the fiscal environment the county is in today and will likely be in tomorrow,” the Sequim Republican said.
“This is not an ideological thing with me; it’s a philosophical thing about the calling that we have as elected officials.”
Chapman said a “better avenue” for public salary oversight could be the Charter Review Commission, which could appoint a salary review committee to “find that happy balance” in the salaries of all county department heads, both elected and appointed.
“I think there would be overwhelming support for that, and it would be a very good process,” Chapman said.
A conversation about public salaries and the disparity between the public and private sectors is “always good,” Chapman added, but asking the Board of County Commissioners to make those decisions during a campaign is “way too political.”
“A pay freeze until we figure it out might be appropriate,” Chapman said.
“But again, why just the electeds?”
In neighboring Jefferson County, commissioners are considering raising elected officials’ pay. A resolution increasing pay according to percentages based on the state’s Sept. 1 increase in judge salaries is on Monday’s consent agenda.
Like Jonathan Swift’s satirical 1729 essay “A Modest Proposal,” which suggested the Irish could ease their financial problems by selling their children as food for the wealthy, McEntire’s suggestion has stirred discussion.
And that’s fine with him.
“Likely, it will wind up with some other option other than the one I indicated some partiality to, and that’s OK,” McEntire said.
“We’ll see how it goes.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
