Stairs lead to the second floor of the Lewis County Courthouse.
A recently launched initiative to reorganize Lewis County’s structure would result in over $182,000 in cost savings — prior to the hiring of a county manager — after dramatically reducing the Board of Lewis County Commissioners’ pay and benefits.
The move to pursue a home rule charter county is driven by the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce, which has proposed increasing the number of commissioners from three to five, reducing their positions to part time and only paying them each $1,000 a month plus benefits. With the savings, One Lewis County is proposing that a county manager be hired with a salary of $150,000 plus benefits.
Numbers released by One Lewis County, the group formed by the Chamber, stated there would be a savings of $224,695 before adding the manager to oversee day-to-day operations, although according to the county’s budget office, the number would actually be $42,617 less than that at $182,078.
Based on the numbers provided by the county, and accounting for the $150,000 in salary for the county manager, there would be $32,078 in savings if the Chamber’s recommendations are followed, some of which would go toward the individual’s benefits.
The Chamber overestimated the commissioners’ current pay and some of the benefits they receive, according to the information provided by the budget office.
Alicia Bull, executive director of the Chamber, did not respond to requests for comment.
Todd Chaput, president of the Chamber, said the numbers compiled by One Lewis County included information collected from comparable counties and various setups in different cities.
Despite the discrepancy in savings, Chaput said he believes the changes will be beneficial for the county.
“We’re really trying to be very open and want to engage the voters,” he said. “Obviously things haven’t been perfect, not that they ever will be, but we think this is a better option and we think the voters will support this.”
On Friday, Chaput said One Lewis County is working with the county to finalize verbiage on the petition prior to collecting signatures from registered voters in the county to get the initiative and freeholder election on the general election ballot in November 2018.
The hope is to start collecting the 4,500 signatures this week, Chaput said. To validate the measure, 10 percent of the voters in the last general election are required to sign the petition.
Along with paying the proposed five commissioners $12,000 a year for acting as “servant leaders,” One Lewis County’s recommendations include paying for Social Security, Medicare and health insurance, which amounts to $30,918 for each commissioner a year, for a grand total of $154,590 for all three.
Numbers provided by Becky Butler, the county’s budget analyst, show that the three commissioners each make $82,624 in salary, with $29,599 in benefits, which include Social Security and health insurance, among other items. That adds up to $336,668 for the three commissioners annually.
Not all commissioners opt into county medical and retirement, Butler said. Currently, Commissioner Edna Fund is the only one who has opted out of retirement benefits from the county. The other two commissioners are Gary Stamper and Bobby Jackson.
There are two ways to initiate the home rule charter process. Either the commissioners can pass a resolution to place the measure on the ballot, or a petition can be started.
Freeholders would be elected and would then have 180 days to propose a plan for restructuring county government’s leadership structure, which would later be placed on the ballot for voters to decide.
Currently, Washington state has seven charter counties: King, Clallam, Whatcom, Snohomish, Pierce, San Juan and, most recently, Clark County.
The discussion to switch to a charter form of government was evaluated by a commissioner-appointed task force, which ultimately did not recommend going through with the change. Instead, the Blue Ribbon Task Force made a recommendation to hire a county manager.
One Lewis County agreed with hiring the manager but wanted to take it a step further, the group’s leaders previously told The Chronicle.
Information provided to the task force during its meetings included the number of commissioners, and their pay, for four of the seven home rule charters.
In Clallam County, there are three commissioners who get paid $128,400, while the manager makes $157,900. In Clark County, there are six commissioners who make $53,000 in salary and a manager with a salary of $163,100. Snohomish County commissioners make $111,340, while the manager brings in $161,100. In Whatcom County, there are seven councilors, who each make $30,660 in salary. The county manager makes $155,400.
Numbers were not immediately available for King, Pierce and San Juan counties.
