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Honolulu City Council members voted unanimously today to reject 3 percent pay raises for themselves as recommended by the city Salary Commission.
The Salary Commission recommended the Council chairman’s position receive $60,354 while the other eight other Council members would’ve seen their pay rise to $54,019.
The nine Council members, acting as the Committee on Legislative Matters, also voted to reject a pay raise for the prosecuting attorney’s position to $133,191.
Council Chairman Ernie Martin said city Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro agreed to rejecting the pay raise.
The Salary Commission also recommended 3 percent pay raises for most city agency chiefs and their deputies but agreed to not recommend a hike for the mayor’s salary at the request of Mayor Peter Carlisle.
It will be up to Carlisle to determine whether to reject the raises on behalf of his top aides.
Commission Chairman Jim Donovan said the raises were recommended because most department heads had not seen a raise in four or more years.
Most department heads would see their pay increase to $121,894 under the plan approved by the commission.
The plan called for the police chief’s salary to increase by 5.5 percent and the fire chief’s salary to go up by 4 percent to reflect that several of their top deputies make more than they do because their salaries are tied to collective bargaining contracts.
