Council to get
raise on Kauai
The salary commission finally OKs
pay hikes for the seven members
LIHUE >> After four months of disagreement, the Kauai Salary Commission agreed yesterday to give the County Council chairman a 24 percent pay increase and other Council members a 22 percent salary boost by the end of 2005.
The vote was 4-2, with one member against any increase at all. The commission's decision is final. Neither the Council nor the voters have any say in the matter.
At one point the commission was considering a 63 percent hike for the chairman and a 47 percent increase for the other six members.
The increases approved yesterday will take effect in two steps.
The current chairman's salary of $31,938 will increase to $37,600 on Dec. 1 and then to $39,500 on Dec. 1, 2005.
Salary for the other members, now $28,744, will increase to $33,500 on Dec. 1 and $35,100 a year later.
In effect, the Kauai County Council members have not had a pay increase since 1996. Their pay was increased in 1997 but then rolled back to 1996 levels in 1998, an election year.
Earlier this year, the Salary Commission increased Mayor Bryan Baptiste's salary to $80,000 from $73,118, a 9.4 percent increase.
Since the creation of the Salary Commission in 1988, Council members' pay has been between 35 and 40 percent of the mayor's pay. The increases granted yesterday -- only the third granted the Council since 1988 -- bring their pay to 44 percent of the mayor's.
The Kauai Salary Commission has seven members, three each chosen by the mayor and Council, and the seventh picked by the six members.
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