Council to formally reject raises

City Council members are poised to reject proposed pay raises of 3 percent 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 see their pay rise to $54,019.

Resolution 122, which rejects the raises, is up for a final vote before the Council on Wednesday. But the nine Council members, acting as the Committee on Legislative Matters, already voted unanimously May 16 to reject the raises. They also voted to reject a raise, to $133,191, for the prosecuting attorney.

Council Chairman Ernie Martin said city Prosecutor Keith Kane­shiro agreed to rejecting the pay raise.

As for the Council members’ salaries, Martin told the Star-Advertiser that the poor state of the economy, as well an existing restriction on public workers’ pay, would make it untenable for members to accept an increase at this time.

"It wouldn’t be fair for us to accept any types of raises while the economy is still under challenging circumstances," Martin said.

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. Spokes­woman Louise Kim McCoy said Carlisle will voluntarily continue taking a 15 percent pay cut. It will be up to Carlisle to determine whether to reject the raises of his top aides, Noel Ono, city human resources director, told committee members.

McCoy said the administration has not made a decision on whether directors and deputies will be asked to decline any pay raises and to continue to take a voluntary 5 percent pay cut.

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 to $143,729 and the fire chief’s salary to go up by 4 percent to $141,685 because several of their top deputies make more than they do, since the deputies’ salaries are tied to collective-bargaining contracts.