October-November 2005
Charter Amendment 2
Shall Section 2.20(b) of the Whatcom County Charter be amended to eliminate the limitation on the County Council member salaries, which is currently 15 percent of the County Executive’s salary?
Statement for:
Establishing the pay of elected officials should be an administrative function, based on sound business principles and practices common to other large employers. Since the establishment of the County Charter, Whatcom County has grown, both in population, as well as in the responsibility of government. What may have appeared appropriate or even necessary at the time the Charter was established 30 years ago, setting within the Charter itself an arbitrary standard for pay of county council members, is no longer so. The public has nothing to fear from this proposal.
There is a natural tendency to be conservative in setting the salaries of elected officials, given the public scrutiny and the oversight provided by the voters at the ballot box.
This change is a measure to remove inappropriate micro management from what is essentially a policy document.
Statement prepared by:
Shannon O’Brien, Charter Review Commissioner, District 2
Statement Against:
Increased pay in government is seldom a solution. If needed, our Council could have proposed an ordinance that would do what this amendment does, but they have not. In fact, every member of today’s Council is willing to serve without this change.
Regular citizens make for a better government than career politicians. Recognizing this, our charter places a limit on compensation for council members, assuring motivation based on duty and service, rather than fat paychecks. We threaten the balance within our government by removing this control.
Our Charter limits the part-time council’s pay to 15 percent of the full-time county executive’s salary. If the executive gets a raise, council salaries can increase. While the council is part-time, they’ve provided themselves with full-time benefit coverage. So, if they get needed raises, provide themselves with benefits, and haven’t proposed this change, why would voters take this dangerous step?
Statement prepared by:
Joe Elenbaas, Charter Review Commissioner, District 2
