Pullman city councilors and mayor get pay raises

Pullman city councilors’ salaries almost doubled after being raised for the first time in six years.

The city’s Salary Commission had its first meeting Wednesday morning to set pay rates for elected city officials. The commission was created last summer and includes retired Pullman Police Chief Ted Weatherly, retired City of Pullman Human Resources manager Karen Sires, Pullman attorney Rob Rembert, and local real estate agent and Pullman Regional Hospital commissioner Joe Pitzer. Along with establishing new pay rates for councilors and the mayor, the commission created a new stipend for the mayor.

City Administrator Mike Urban said with an increase in bargaining units defined by contracts in the biennial budget, there is a capacity for increasing salaries. He said bargaining units have increased by 4% in the 2023-24 biennial budget, with a 2% floor and 4.5% ceiling.

Rembert said Pullman has an active mayor and council who aren’t doing the job for the money. He added that salary makes a difference in opening the floor to some people who would not otherwise run. Pitzer said the council is composed of excellent people and he wants wages provided to compensate for their responsibilities. It’s a balancing act, he said, as he doesn’t want salaries to be too small of an amount that people aren’t willing to do the job, but also doesn’t want to overpay for these positions.

The commission made their decision using an analysis of elected officials’ pay in Washington cities such as Wenatchee, Walla Walla, Moses Lake and Ellensburg. They unanimously decided to increase the council’s pay in phases, raising their salary to an $800 monthly stipend in 2023, or $9,600 annually, and $1,000 monthly stipend in 2024, or $12,000 annually. The council’s salary in 2022 was $550 a month, or $6,600 annually, according to Urban.

According to past reporting, Mayor Glenn Johnson said this will be his final term when he won in the 2019 Whitman County general election. Johnson’s term ends in 2023 and he has not announced a campaign for reelection. The mayor position will be open in the next general election, along with four council spots for full terms and one additional councilor for a partial term.

Commissioner Weatherly said Johnson is a great volunteer — in addition to mayoral responsibilities, he is chairperson of the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport Board of Directors. Johnson donates his time and money back to the community, Weatherly said, and he is very active. The commission wants to incentivize Johnson for all the work he does, but Weatherly said they don’t want the next mayor doing the job for the money.

The mayor’s salary hasn’t been raised in 14 years. According to Urban, the position’s pay was $1,417 per month, or $17,004 annually in 2022. The commission unanimously voted to increase pay in phases to a $1,500 monthly stipend in 2023, or $18,000 annually, and a $1,650 monthly stipend in 2024, or $19,800 annually. Along with this increase, the commission added a new stipend for the mayor who sits on boards of government bodies in which the mayor would not otherwise participate. The mayor would earn $100 a month per position, limited to three positions, or a maximum of $3,600 annually.

Weatherly said the commission aims for a reasonable level that is consistent with comparable governments in eastern Washington, and also wants to give incentive for “all-star” mayors, both current and future.

The commission held a public hearing for Pullman residents to comment, which none attended.

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce.