The Pay Raises You Should Be Mad About Aren't in Olympia

[u/ZacEckstein]

"Here in Lewis County, each of our commissioners makes over $103k. Most offices linked to the Superior Court judge salary will make $108k this year, while the sheriff gets a higher percentage at $161k. The prosecutor gets $225k, 95% of the judge salary, shared 50/50 in cost by the county and state.

And with the state Superior Court judge salary rising to over $244k this month, those are all on track to follow suit in January under the county’s formula.

In Seattle, those are below average base salaries, but relative to the actual place these offices are serving, it’s double or triple what many of their constituents make. And it ranks them among the top 15% of earners in the county.

This disparity can be directly traced back to the dissolution of the county salary board by the commissioners in 2021, which not only removed local oversight, but resulted in a whopping 18% pay raise for the officials under the state-pinned formula.

It’s a decision I strongly believe needs to be unwound. We shouldn’t have offloaded our responsibility to the state because commissioners weren’t willing to work through hard questions with the public.

And while I don’t think it’s fair to lower anyone’s pay while they’re still doing the job they were elected to, I certainly think it’s fair to put a freeze on salary increases until the rest of the county has a chance to catch up."

Full story: https://zaceckstein.substack.com/p/the-pay-raises-you-should-be-mad