Council eyeing higher stipend for job

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Llewellyn, Knobloch cite long hours and many meetings.

Increasing responsibilities and time demands could mean a pay raise for the Bainbridge city councilors this year.

The city’s Salary Commission, which reviews and recommends salaries for elected officials, was convened last week at the request of several council members.

The $600 councilors are paid each month isn’t enough to match inflation and the positions’ growing demands, said Councilman Jim Llewellyn, who initiated the six-member citizen commission’s reformation.

“We’re underpaid at $600,” he said. “I think $1,000 a month wouldn’t be unreasonable.”

The council’s last pay raise occurred in 1999, when the base rate jumped from $400 to the present $600.

Llewellyn estimates his workload has risen by about 50 percent from his previous tenure on the council in the late 1990s.

He often cuts the hours of his day job to 20 hours a week to attend the growing number of Council meetings.

Councilman Bill Knobloch said councilors attend an average of 10 city meetings each month.

While the job description is considered “part-time,” Knobloch said he puts more than 20 hours a week into his council work, which includes studying issues and attending non-city meetings with the constituents and organizations.

“We’re seeing a change in the council’s role,” he said. “We’re more involved in performing the legislative part of government and much more involved in the issues.

“We don’t just go to council meetings and render decisions like judges.”

The commission will study other city council pay scales, the duties of the Bainbridge council and other factors before issuing a pay recommendation.

“Deciding on the pay is a science and an art,” Salary Commission member Clarence Moriwaki said. “We’ll look at the tax base, the budget, other cities and their populations and annual revenues.”

In Mountlake Terrace, a city with a population comparable to Bainbridge’s 22,000, councilors earned $800 a month in 2002. Anacortes, population 15,000, also gave its councilors $800 a month.

But on Mercer Island, with it’s population and per capita income similar to Bainbridge, councilors netted only $100 a month.

“Mercer has a very different infrastructure, so it’s an apples and orange comparison,” Knobloch said. “We don’t have natural gas, we don’t have water pumped in.

“But the most important thing is, they’re already built out. We’re in mid-growth, while their time has passed. The growth we’re dealing with is a major responsibility.”

Salary Commission member Ed Kushner agreed that public service on Bainbridge Island brings its own unique set of demands.

“There’s a fair amount of activity and activism here,” he said. “The square miles of the city or population doesn’t tell the full tenor of what demands citizens are laying upon” the council, he said.

Besides compensation for time and effort, some councilors believe a pay hike could encourage more citizens to run for office.

“If you want to attract people to run, you have to have a carrot on a stick,” Knobloch said. “This can expand the pool of eligible candidates.”

The Salary Commission hasn’t yet set its first meeting date. Appointed by the mayor, the group sets its own schedule to maintain independence from elected officials.

They are mandated to meet at least once a year. The commission failed to meet last year and has not recommended a pay raise since its inception in 1999. Llewellyn hopes this year the commission will up the ante.

“We’re a little chagrined that they’ve met twice and nothing’s happened,” he said.