Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund at the Board of Health meeting on Monday afternoon.
The Lewis County Salary Commission announced Tuesday that it had approved 10 percent pay raises for the Lewis County Board of Commissioners, and recommended the Board of Commissioners give the same raise to all other county elected officials.
Commissioner Edna Fund told The Chronicle Wednesday morning she was “taken aback” by the Salary Commission’s decision to recommend raises for the county elected officials, citing the struggle of trying to balance the county’s 2021 budget in the midst of a pandemic and major economic downturn.
“I could hardly sleep last night thinking about this. I’m struggling with this,” she said. “I’ve come to the conclusion that whatever raise I get, it’s going to go back to the community.”
Fund said the money could be donated to nonprofits or other community organizations. She said she is not able to refuse the raise.
The recommendation is the result of a four-to-two vote at the commission’s July 7 meeting. The board most recently met on Aug. 4. Salary Commission members Kelly Bell, Donna Moody, Rick Kuykendall and Robert Berg voted in favor, while Martha Hunt and Eric Carlson voted against.
Washington state law outlines the process by which a county commissioner’s salary can be raised. A citizen salary commission, appointed by the county commission, “holds the sole authority to set salaries for county commissioners,” according to a Tuesday news release from the Salary Commission. The Salary Commission was established in 2001 and most recently reconvened in May 2019. The last salary increase for the BOCC was in February, 2014.
According to the news release, the Salary Commission based its decision on a 10 percent increase in per capita income in Lewis County between 2014 and 2018.
Still, Fund said the timing is all wrong, given the economic hardships faced by much of the community and country, and the BOCC’s current task of balancing a 2021 budget at a time when sales tax revenue is expected to drop.
“In fact, the members spent considerable time researching, analyzing, and debating the many facts and issues,” the Salary Commission’s news release states. “Of particular concern was the potential negative impact by the COVID-19 economic and health crises to Lewis County’s current budget.”
Including both salary and benefits, the Lewis County Commissioners each make more than $100,000 per year.
One of the options on the table for the salary commission was to postpone a decision until at least the fall, Fund said.
“That would have been wonderful,” she added.
Commissioners Bobby Jackson and Gary Stamper did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
