The Port of Olympia Commission wants to hear from the public whether future commissioners should get increased pay.
Port Commissioners are currently paid $600 a month and get $128 for every day they perform official Port business, up to a maximum of 75 days per year.
As the commissioners were discussing a potential raise during a meeting on Monday, July 17, they referred to a 2022 survey conducted by the Washington Public Ports Association, which identified the compensation for Port employees across the state.
Commissioner Bob Iyall noted that the pay for Port of Olympia commissioners was neither under nor over-compensated compared to other ports, which Commissioner Amy Evans Harding echoed.
Port staff is going to schedule the item as part of a future meeting but has not yet finalized a date, and possibly would not be scheduled until October.
Similar to the Port of Olympia’s pay for commissioners are the Ports of Anacortes, Bellingham, and Everett.
Commissioner Joe Downing, who brought the matter of raising compensation to the commission, suggested raising the monthly compensation to $1,000.
This amount takes into account the average of the consumer price index for the last nine years.
“It's gone up 3.36% in Seattle, and so you could take that, and extrapolate from $600, we'd be about $826 a month,” Downing said.
Downing added that being the port of the state capital, work here was more challenging, so he suggested an additional $150 to come up with an even $1,000.
Downing noted that Port commissioners have not received any pay increase for at least nine years.
“We all know one employee gets paid, you know, 10 or 15 times that much… However, we as commissioners that spend somewhere between 25 and 33% of our work week on Port business, we get paid below the poverty level,” Downing said.
Commissioner Amy Evans Harding acknowledged that raising the compensation would encourage more people to run for the position, as the current pay may only be attracting people who are affluent or retired. However, she said she would not advocate on behalf of a raise at this point as the public may not want it.
“The way I feel is compensation should reflect value. And I feel like the community is our boss, and the community is looking to us to get our house in order a little bit,” Evans Harding said. “I would like to see us put some more systems in place and see us providing more value to the community… so that the community would feel good about that increase in pay.”
Downing suggested putting an advisory item for the issue at a future meeting to hear from the public what they feel about a potential raise. Acting Executive Director Rudy Rudolph said he could probably schedule it by October when they discuss a resolution about the new five-member commission.
Asked by Downing if they can do it sooner, Evans Harding said that she would work with Rudolph to schedule it as soon as he finds it reasonable.
Downing is not running for re-election in his district. The proposed pay raise would also not affect the other two commissioners until they run for re-election.
Port HR Director Ben McDonald said during the start of the discussion that the commission is able to set the compensation of commissioners as provided by Section 3 of RCW 53.12.260.
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SecondOtter
Maybe the port commissioners...the ones right now...should ask their corporate masters for a pay raise. They are, after all, focused solely on selling out to Big Business, and the aviation industry than they are to the little people who are, as Harding said, their "boss". They aren't listening to us, why in the world should we pay them more money?
Thursday, July 20, 2023 Report this
JW
Who knew the price was so low for some people to sell their soul.
Thursday, July 20, 2023 Report this
1Cochamamba9
1. The Port of Olympia has been a money losing operation [taxpayer subsidized.]
2. A pay increase should be based on performance [where’s the beef?]
3. There has been a very high turnover of Port employees during the previous two years – what might this imply about management?
4. Dissatisfied with your wage/salary? Find another [better paying position] – which may require additional education: academic or a trade.
On another note:
The Port Commissioners recently voted a 4% raise for the Executive Director of the Port of Olympia. She now receives approximately 198,876/year [retroactive to January 2023.] Setting up a: “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” scenario? The Governor of Washington State earns approximately $183,072/year.
So, what’s my opinion regarding a pay raise for the Port of Olympia Commissioners …
Wednesday, July 26, 2023 Report this