Council may reject pay raises

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Several City Council members are calling on their colleagues to reject annual pay raises of more than $9,000 each, but disagree about whether some other officials should get smaller raises.

The city's Salary Commission last month recommended raises of 21 percent for the council and 5 percent for the mayor, managing director, deputy managing director, prosecutor and first deputy, and corporation counsel and first deputy.

The raises will take effect unless at least seven council members vote by next month to reject all or some of them.

Councilmen Gary Okino, Nestor Garcia and Charles Djou have signed a resolution to turn down only the council's raises. Councilman Mike Gabbard introduced a competing measure that would reject all the raises except the deputy prosecutor, corporation counsel and corporation counsel deputy.

And Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz sponsored a third resolution to reject all the raises, but says he's not wedded to the idea. Dela Cruz said he's exploring ways that secondary employment for council members could be limited if raises are retained.

"I think there's no argument that all of us spend more than 40 hours a week, delightedly, to serve our constituents," he said. "No one runs (for a council seat) for the salary. We all run to make a difference."

The salary commission's recommendations would give Dela Cruz the biggest raise — a $10,455 increase to $58,905. Pay for the other eight council members would increase by $9,350, to $52,700.

Salaries for the other officials would increase 5 percent. The mayor's pay would increase by $5,610, rising to $117,810. The managing director and others would see raises ranging from $4,728 to $5,355.

In 2002, the council rejected raises for themselves, the mayor, managing director and deputy managing director.

Okino said it's clear to him that raises for council members aren't acceptable this year, while budget cuts are looming. "Twenty-one percent, that's ridiculous, especially when we don't have the money for it," he said. "There's no justification for raising the council's salaries."

Mayor Jeremy Harris, who's leaving office at the end of the year, called last week for the council to reject the raises, except for the managing director. He said a raise for the managing director is warranted to ensure the position pays more than jobs he oversees.

Dela Cruz said he had not decided which council committee he would refer the resolutions to for a hearing.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.