City panel Top city officials will get pay raises for the third straight year under preliminary recommendations by the city Salary Commission.
backs pay raise
Top officials would see 3 percent
to 5 percent pay hikes under a
city Salary Commission planBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.comThe mayor, City Council members, and nearly all department chiefs and their deputies would see their pay checks rise by 3 percent effective July 1, the start of the 2003 fiscal year. The exceptions would be the police and fire chiefs and their deputies, who would get 5 percent increases.
"We all agree an increase is indicated; the question is what amount," said Commission Chairman David Wilson.
The 5 percent for police and fire chiefs won unanimous approval yesterday. The 3 percent for everyone else was approved 4-2. Member Pauline Worsham wanted across-the-board 5 percent increases while member Rick Ornellas believed a 2 percent raise would have been more appropriate.
The commission will hold a public hearing at 3:30 p.m. April 25 before making a final decision.
The proposal would cost taxpayers about $136,600 in the city's $1.02 billion operating budget.
The mayor's annual salary would go to $115,360, up from $112,000. The pay of City Council members would rise to $44,651 from $43,350. The Council chairman would make $49,904, up from $48,450.
Among appointees, the managing director's pay would increase to $110,313 from $107,100. The police and fire chiefs would see their paychecks increase to $104,958 from $99,960. Their deputies' pay would rise to $99,603 from $94,860. Other department chiefs' pay would rise to $99,807 from $96,900. Their deputies' pay would move to $94,554 from $91,800.
Mayor Jeremy Harris gave testimony stating that while agency chiefs deserve pay raises, he is opposed to the increases because of the city's tight fiscal situation.
But commission members said increases are necessary to ensure the salaries of the city's top elected and appointed officials keep pace with inflation and the pay raises received by other managers whose pay is determined by collective bargaining contracts tied to union negotiations.
"The idea that somebody would be promoted and have to take a pay cut is something we have to try to avoid," Wilson said after the meeting.
Commission members said they do not want to create a situation where a top manager would have to take a pay cut to be appointed a chief or deputy chief of a department or agency.
A Human Resources Department memorandum showed all unionized city employees and nonappointed managers getting increases of between 2 and 5 percent beginning July 1. A top-scale civil service employee conceivably could make $93,384 annually beginning July 1 while a deputy department chief would make only $91,800, or 1.7 percent less, without a pay hike.
The commission gave 2 percent across-the-board increases last year, and 14 percent increases the previous year. There were no increases the three previous years.
City & County of Honolulu
