The Honolulu Salary Commission Tuesday adopted a nearly 3.6% pay boost for the mayor, managing director, the nine-member
City Council and other
appointed, high-level city officials for the city’s fiscal year 2025 salary schedule, which begins July 1.
However, the panel’s vote follows declarations by the full Council and Mayor Rick Blangiardi to formally reject any proposed pay hike —
including a lower 3% pay bump first announced by the Salary Commission March 9.
This year’s proposed pay increase for Honolulu’s elected officials comes less than a year after the Council received a controversial 64% salary increase and the Honolulu mayor’s pay jumped nearly 12.6%.
Still, this year, the commission determined not increasing city pay for local government employees, including the Council, mayor and executive managers
of city departments, will
affect compensation for
such posts in coming years. They noted new salary
increases mirror the nearly 3.6% pay hike for the
city’s Bargaining Unit 13,
composed of professional and scientific employees.
“This was not an easy day today because we really did rethink what we discussed at the last meeting,” Malia Espinda, the Salary Commission’s chair, said after the vote. “But I believe that we’ve set the course going forward, and it should be easier for the future
commissions.”
Espinda and others on the commission noted the salary increase was in keeping with issues such as the yearly rate of inflation and being able to attract future generations to jobs in local government.
Under unanimous vote by the five-member panel, the mayor’s annual salary — which in 2023 increased to $209,856 from $186,432 — will now be $217,389. Likewise, eight members of the Council — which in 2023 received a $44,400 pay bump that hiked their respective pay to $113,304, up from $68,904 — would see their annual pay rise to $117,371.
The Council chair seat — which in 2023 saw a 60% pay jump to $123,292 annually, up from $76,968 — will now see that pay rise to $127,718.
The city managing director’s pay will also increase, to $207,917, above what was already received in 2023, or $200,712, up from $178,320. The deputy managing director position will similarly increase to $197,127, up from $190,296.
Other high-level city
positions are expected to receive a nearly 3.6% pay hike — due, in part, to existing collective bargaining agreements still being negotiated between the city and Bargaining Unit 13 — as the new fiscal year nears.
Some of those positions include:
>> Prosecuting attorney: to $206,028 from $198,888.
>> Police chief: to $239,964 from $231,648.
>> Fire chief: to $232,357 from $224,304.
>> Corporation counsel: to $199,788 from $192,864.
In addition, 14 department heads will see their pay jump to $194,219 from $187,488, while 14 deputy department heads will see salary hikes to $184,274 from $177,888.
According to the city, the nearly 3.6% pay increase does not include an almost 2% annual step increase to pay per the bargaining unit.
Although he and the rest of the Council say they’ll reject the latest pay raises, Council Chair Tommy Waters appeared at Tuesday’s commission meeting to testify in favor of higher salaries for future city workers.
“I believe that the lack of growth of leading public officials has discouraged many talented and competent individuals from considering public service,” Waters told the panel. “That’s why it is crucial to enact significant changes despite the expected resistance.
“Your salary adjustment last year drew sharp criticism as some people
perceived your recommendations as shocking,” he added. “However, the reality is there’s never an ideal time to consider Council members’ salaries.”
In addition, Waters noted the Council was currently reviewing seven resolutions that urge voter-approved charter amendments — each calling for questions to be placed on the 2024 general election ballot — to overhaul how Honolulu pays its employees. Those resolutions include some that seek to change or limit the Salary Commission’s powers to grant salaries.
But at Tuesday’s meeting, Waters drew sharp criticism from one Salary Commissioner who believed he and the Council failed to address the community in 2023 over their 64% pay hike.
“I’m still bothered by the fact that you didn’t give your constituents the opportunity to voice their concerns over to the Council,” Lila Tom told the Council chair. “We heard them … so we did that, the hard call.”
Waters replied, “I appreciate what you’re saying, and I’ve grappled with this quite a bit.”
He noted he’d “talked to the executive director of the Ethics Commission, and I had her define what ‘conflict of interest’ is.”
“When a Council member personally benefits on
something — typically, somebody wants to give me a car as a Council member and I have to vote on it — I cannot vote on it, it’s a conflict of interest,” said Waters. “So my feeling was for us to have to vote on our own pay raise — whether it was to accept or reject it — that’s a conflict of interest.”
In 2023, though the full Council never voted to
rescind their pay raises, three members — Radiant Cordero, Augie Tulba and Andria Tupola — formally rejected their respective 64% pay hikes in writing to the city, keeping their Council compensation set at $68,904.
Meanwhile, compensation for all city workers will be
included in the city’s proposed $3.63 billion operating budget.
Unveiled on March 1, the Blangiardi administration’s latest budget — expected to be adopted by June — is a 6.4% increase over the city’s current $3.41 billion spending plan.
