The San Juan County Citizens’ Salary Commission has voted to give Prosecuting Attorney Randy Gaylord a $19,000 wage increase, putting him in a tie for the title of highest-paid public employee in the county.
Talk about bad timing.
At a time when the county is laying off employees, closing programs (Orcas Rec comes most vibrantly to mind), and trimming down to the bone, we find this pay raise a bit hard to swallow.
While we recognize that two years ago Washington state legislature decided salaries of county prosecutors and superior court judges should be equivalent, it doesn’t mean those salaries should be equalized right now.
We believe public employees, including those at the top, should be paid good, livable wages. We believe Gaylord’s current annual salary of almost $130,000 is a good, livable wage. Although attorneys can make considerably more in the private sector, Gaylord has chosen to work as a public servant.
The majority of Washington counties are not implementing any pay raises for their prosecuters. In preparation of its staff report, the county polled all Washington state counties (there are 38) for their planned 2011 salaries for the prosecuting attorney. Of the 34 that responded, only four counties (Mason, Snohomish, Thurston, and Yakima) matched the state’s financial contribution. King County was the only county that exceeded the state’s contribution.
That means most of the counties in our state are not paying their prosecutors what they “should” be. Yet nearly all of the counties, 29 of them, planned NO pay increase for their prosecutors in 2011.
So why did our salary commission approve a raise? We aren’t knocking Gaylord. After all, he is entitled to this raise, and he did request that the increase start in 2012 and be phased in over time. But what if our county is in even worse shape by 2012? Just because a raise can be given does not mean that it should. The commission voted against granting pay raises and cost-of-living increases for any of the county’s other elected officials, with exception of the sheriff – he will get a cost-of-living increase of 1 percent in the coming year.
Salaries of superior and district court judges are determined by the state, not by a local salary commission. The superior court judge salary was set at $148,832, and it applies to every judge in every county. The state pays for half of both the judges’ and prosecutors’ salaries. So the amount our county will be contributing toward the pay increase equals $1,575 a month.
The prosecutor received a pay increase of roughly $18,900 in 2008 as well, in step with the state legislation. With this $19,000 increase, he’ll be making more than the prosecutor in Skagit County, with eight incorporated cities and towns and a population of more than 117,000 people.
As our number of food bank recipients grows, unemployment soars, and county services are cut, this pay raise leaves a bad taste in our mouths. Until the economy turns and conditions change for the rank and file, we say no more increases in six-figure public salaries.
