Increasing or Decreasing Salaries of Local Elected Officials

From time to time, MRSC receives questions about increasing or reducing the salaries of local elected officials, such as:

• Can the city council increase the mayor’s salary?
• If a county commissioner is appointed to fill a vacancy on the county commission, what salary do they receive?
• Can contributions to benefit programs covering elected officials be modified during the elected official’s term of office?

This blog will answer these questions and will outline how elected officials’ salaries are set and modified.

Setting Salaries

How salaries are set for elected officials depends on whether the official is serving on the governing body of a city, town, county, or special purpose district.

Cities, Towns, and Counties

Cities, towns, and counties have two options in setting the salaries of elected officials:

1. Adoption by ordinance of the legislative body; or
2. Set by a salary commission.

Salaries for county elected officials must be set at or higher than the minimum salary thresholds set forth in RCW 36.17.020.

As discussed in further detail below, while the salaries of elected officials in cities, towns, and counties can never be decreased during their term of office, more flexibility is given to these agencies in increasing salaries of elected officials during their term of office. The simplest way to think of this is that salaries may be increased if the elected official does not set their own salary.

Elected officials do not set their own salary in the following circumstances:

• When a salary commission sets the salary.
• When the elected officials are county officials who are not part of the legislative body (like a county prosecutor or assessor).
• When the elected official is mayor in a mayor-council city.

Special Purpose Districts

Special purpose districts have less flexibility in setting salaries as the state sets the maximum compensation allowed to be paid to these elected officials—although most special purpose districts can establish lower compensation amounts.

These maximum salary amounts are adjusted by the state every five years, with the next increase occurring January 1, 2029. Given the differing rules that apply to special purpose districts, this blog will focus only on cities, towns, and counties.

For more information on salaries for elected officials of special purpose districts, see the following MRSC resources: Salaries, Compensation, and Benefits for Elected Officials and Salary Increases Coming in 2024 for Many Special Purpose District Officials.

Reducing Salaries

The salaries of city, town, and county elected officials cannot be reduced during their term of office, as this type of salary reduction is prohibited by the Washington State Constitution in Article XI, Section 8.

Instead, if the governing body of a city, town, or county (e.g., council or commission) or the jurisdiction’s salary commission adopts a reduced salary for its local elected officials, those reduced salaries will go into effect only after the current terms of the existing elected officials end.

Waiving or Donating Salaries

Given the constitutional prohibition on reducing the salary of an elected official during their term of office, one may conclude that the elected official cannot waive or donate their salary. Not so!

As covered more thoroughly on Salaries, Compensation, and Benefits for Elected Officials, MRSC’s take is that:

[S]o long as the salary waiver or reduction is voluntary, the salary waiver/reduction does not implicate the constitutional prohibition on decreasing salaries because the official's salary would not actually be decreased or diminished after the election or during the term of office. MRSC recommends salary waivers/reductions be captured in writing and done in accordance with adopted policies.

An elected official may even reject any increase in salary proposed by a salary commission. The most recent example of this is in Spokane where the mayor asked the city's salary commission to not increase her salary even though the increase was initially proposed by the commission.

Many local governments have adopted code provisions authorizing salary waiver or donation. These code provisions usually require the waiver be submitted in writing and co-signed by the official’s spouse. See, for example, Stanwood Municipal Code Sec. 2.02.090.

Increasing Salaries

Due to the constitutional prohibition against governing bodies increasing their own salary during their term of office, any legislative body salary increase that is adopted by ordinance of the legislative body will only go into effect at the end of each individual members’ terms—likely resulting in staggered pay scales that match staggered terms (see the Washington State Constitution, Article XI, Section 8).

The one caveat to this is that, if an ordinance was adopted before the official’s term of office commenced and it applied an automatic, fixed salary increase at specified dates or set the salary amount for future years, those increases can go into effect on the dates outlined in the ordinance (even if those increases occur mid-term). See, for example, Richland Municipal Code Sec. 2.32.040.

Many cities and counties have adopted salary commissions to set salaries for elected officials. Any increase adopted by the salary commission can go into effect at any time, even mid-term.

Additionally, the following elected officials do not set their own salaries, so those salaries can be increased by ordinance of the legislative body even in mid-term:

• Mayors in mayor-council cities/towns; and
• Elected county assessors, auditors, clerks, coroners, executives, prosecuting attorneys, sheriffs, and treasurers.

What About Vacancies?

Legislative body vacancies can occur for a variety of reasons, including resignations and loss of residency. Since the salary applies to the position and not the individual, the individual appointed to fill a mid-term vacancy will receive the same salary as the person who previously held the position.

What about Changes to Healthcare or Retirement Benefits?

Many local governments enroll their elected officials in the city/town or county’s health insurance program. Further, members of the legislative body may choose to enroll in the state’s Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) plan as allowed under RCW 41.40.023(3).

What happens if the local agency’s payment into those plans increases during the official’s term? Would this be considered increased compensation, making it subject to the constitutional prohibition?

The answer is “no.” First, state law makes it clear that health insurance is not considered “compensation.” RCW 41.04.190 specifically states;

The cost of a [health insurance] policy or plan to a public agency or body is not additional compensation to the employees or elected officials covered thereby...

Therefore, any decision by the local government to offer health insurance to an elected official or any increase to the local government’s portion of any premiums that occur during their term would not fall under the constitutional prohibition.

Second, eligibility in PERS is a statutory right established by the legislature; thus it would not be considered increased compensation established by the agency’s governing body.

Conclusion

With the exception of special purpose districts, local governments have some flexibility in how they set salaries for local elected officials and whether they allow officials to donate or waive part of all of their salaries. However, any increase or decrease in salaries must follow constitutional requirements (as well as local policy, when applicable).

For information on additional personnel topics as they apply to elected officials, check out these webpages from MRSC:

• Health Insurance Benefits
• Overtime and Comp Time
• Sick Leave and Family/Medical Leave