Mayor and other city officials get pay increases

Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, the nine members of the Honolulu City Council and the city’s appointed employees are getting a 5 percent pay raise starting July 1.

The increases were recommended by the Honolulu Salary Commission in its final report on April 25.

Under the new plan, the mayor will make $173,184 annually, the prosecutor $164,136, the Council chairman $71,520 and the eight other Council members $64,008. The medical examiner, often cited as the most difficult position in the city to fill, will make $288,192, while the police chief will earn $191,184 and the fire chief $185,112. Most other department heads will make $146,808.

Council members could have refused part of or the entire commission recommendation but chose not to do so. As a result, the raises are part of fiscal 2018’s $2.45 billion operating budget, which was approved last week.

In recommending the raises in its report, the commission said “inversion” continues to be an issue at several city agencies. Inversion occurs when the salaries for the highest-paid “exempt management” employees are higher than those of the department and deputy department heads.

The report said the 5 percent raises are an incremental step toward remedying the inversion problem. In 2016 the commission also issued a 5 percent increase. Two years ago the commission called for a 2.5 percent increase for most elected officials and agency chiefs, while the police chief, fire chiefs and their deputies received 5.5 percent raises. In 2014 most received 8 percent raises.

The contracts for all 14 Hawaii public-worker bargaining units are up this year. The raises handed out by the 2017 Salary Commission for elected officials and appointed employees appear to be slightly higher than those received by those in bargaining units that have reached contracts so far, including seven units of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the state’s largest public-workers union.

Council Chairman Ron Menor said the raises are reasonable. “They are basically in line with raises that other government officials and employees are receiving,” he said in a text statement. “They also reflect the significant responsibilities and heavy work load that Council members have in representing our constituents in large Council districts, and the fact that we serve year round.”

Caldwell spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke, in an email, said the raises allow the pay of appointed directors and their deputies to keep pace with the senior managers they supervise. “City department heads work long hours, attend numerous community meetings and events at night and on the weekends, and are on call 24/7,” Broder Van Dyke said.