Raise for top officials gets preliminary OK

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer

Top city officials — including the mayor and City Council members — would get a 3 percent raise under a proposal that won preliminary approval from the city Salary Commission this week.

The commission said top police and fire officials would get a 5 percent increase under the proposal.

For the mayor, the highest-paid city official, such an increase would raise his salary from $112,000 to $115,360.

Mayor Jeremy Harris opposes the increases, as he has in the past, because of the city's tight budget. Harris said that officials deserve an increase, but "the city can't afford it."

Commission Chairman David Wilson said the proposed increases recognize that the pay of city officials lags many in private business and that raises have not kept pace with inflation.

The other city officials affected by the plan include 16 directors of the various city departments, their 14 deputies and city attorneys. They are all appointed officials.

The commission will hold a public hearing on the plan at 3:30 p.m. April 25 in the City Council's second-floor committee room at Honolulu Hale before making a final decision.

If the Salary Commission does approve the raises, they would take effect on July 1, unless the council rejects all or part of the package.

Wilson said the current structure isn't fair to some city workers. He noted that some deputies are paid less than some of the civil servants that they supervise.

"If somebody is promoted, they should at least get the pay as recognition of that," Wilson said.