Council votes to put salary question to public vote
Council votes to put salary question to public vote The Honolulu City Council has voted to put the controversial issue of how raises for council members are determined and approved to a public vote. The resolution also includes several amendments to the Revised Charter of the City and County of Honolulu to align with the proposal. This follows heated discussion about the processes behind Council pay raises and the role of members in voting on their own compensation. The current process involves a salary commission recommending salaries for county officials that align with other city employees' salaries. The council can vote to accept or reject the recommendation but cannot amend it. A question will be placed on the 2024 General Election ballot to clarify the process.
Được phát hành : 10 tháng trước qua Michael Tsai trong Politics
HONOLULU — The Honolulu City Council has adopted a resolution putting the controversial issue of how raises for council members are determined and approved to public vote.
Resolution 24-205 also makes several amendments to the Revised Charter of the City and County of Honolulu to align with the proposal.
The resolution follows heated discussion about the processes behind Council pay raises and the role of members in voting on their own compensation, which flared when, after years of rejecting proposed pay raises, council members voted to accept a Honolulu Salary Commission recommendation to increase their annual compensation to 113,000 from $69,000.
Public outcry was directed at the size of the raise, justified as a unique adjustment to bring council salaries in line with other executive branch pay. Members themselves expressed discomfort at having to vote for their own raises. Honolulu is the only county in which a council is responsible for accepting or rejecting a salary commission recommendation.
“What I wanted more than anything through these proposed amendments was to begin the work of restoring public trust in these processes, so that we can maintain a fair and strategic compensation strategy that allows the city to attract the best candidates and leaders for our community,” said council chair Tommy Waters. “I’m glad that we as a body came to consensus and agreed on a path forward that we can all support. When I look back at how contentious this issue has been, I recognize that the unanimous passage of this proposal is no small feat.”
Under the current process, the independent salary commission recommends salaries for county officials that align with the work performed and the salaries of other city employees. The council can vote to accept or reject the recommendation but cannot amend it.
As the resolution notes, council members rejected raises in 19 of the last 34 years, resulting in salaries that were 46% below the average of councils in comparable jurisdictions.
As the resolution stated, “this resulted in a situation in which council member salaries no longer had a sensible relationship with the salaries of other city employees, which was a significant contributing factor in the Salary Commission’s recommendation of a one-time, catch-up raise in 2023.
“The controversy caused by this one-time, catch-up raise highlighted the inherent flaws in the city’s existing process for establishing the salaries of its elected officials and certain appointed officials,” it stated.
Under the resolution, the following question will be placed on the 2024 General Election ballot: “Shall the Revised City Charter provisions relating to the salaries for Councilmembers be amended to cap any annual increase at no more than 5%, require that any changes be tied to the average annual salary changes of city employees in the City’s collective bargaining units, and remove the Council’s authority to vote on its own raises?”
Waters said the ballot initiative will help resolve lingering concerns about the process.
“(Last week’s) vote allows the Council to now give voters the opportunity to amend the City Charter in November, and do so in a way that puts this matter to rest and allows us to get back to the business of moving forward a balanced budget and creating laws, policies and programs that can save and improve the lives of our residents and families here on Oahu,” Waters said.