With no consensus among the members, the commission deferred the council salaries again to its next meeting, scheduled for Aug. 10.

Earlier this year, the commission had weighed recommendations to cut council salaries based on arguments that council members were spending more time on their jobs because they were intruding in areas outside their responsibilities as legislators.

But discussions yesterday focused on recommendations to increase the Maui council pay scale based on the workload and a need to attract qualified candidates for the seats.

"I really thought we were going to make a decision on salaries today," said Commission Chairman Doug Levin to The Maui News. "We got really close."

Wanting to attract "more experienced" candidates in the future and compensate current members for their work, the commission debated how much of a raise the council should receive.

Despite earlier concerns that the council was inefficient and overstepping its authority, some commissioners said that the council pay rates, which are considerably lower than those of the mayor and county directors, were discouraging qualified citizens from running for office.

"We're all looking for who is going to be there in the future and how are we going to get them to run," said Commissioner Jason Williams.

The Maui County Council is the highest paid in the state, with Chairman Riki Hokama making $57,500 a year and the eight members taking home $52,500. The commission agreed that current salaries were putting a strain on the current members' pocketbooks.

"All I want to do is make sure that our County Council understands that we know that they need a cost of living adjustment," Williams said.

Commissioner Andrew Herrera suggested that the salaries of council members be tied to an objective model, rather than attempting a subjective analysis of issues such as council performance. Herrera suggested using median household income as a gauge to determine council salaries.

"I think tying to median income would be fine forever," he said. "What I'm not comfortable with is voting for something now without quantifying that something later."

Commissioners were not sure that $69,900 — the median household income for a family of four on Maui as determined by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development — was an accurate representation of conditions in Maui County. The HUD estimate was compared to a 2003 report from the U.S. Census Bureau that placed the median income for Hawai'i residents at just $51,000.

A schedule for council pay raises was also hotly debated.

While some commissioners were in favor of a two-part "incentivized" system that would give members a cost of living adjustment immediately and a 15 percent incentive pay hike in January 2009, others supported a single pay raise to simplify the process.

A motion to increase council member salaries to $60,0375 retroactive to July 1 and an increase to $70,000 in January 2009 was voted down 4-3.

Opponents said that although the motion was good in theory, the 18-month gap between the two pay raises might cause problems for the commission, which will have new members in March 2008. There is a current vacancy in the nine-member commission, and the terms of two members will expire in March 2008.

"I distinctly don't like the two-step process," Herrera said. "We won't have the political will to stick with it."

County Council Member Gladys Baisa, who attended the meeting but did not testify, said she hopes the commission will consider the long hours worked and responsibilities of the council members when making their final decision.

"I feel that salaries are too low and they should be adjusted annually," Baisa said. "I know that they are all trying their very best to come to a conclusion, but at some point you have to make a decision."