301 Officials Get A Raise From State Citizens Panel

A state commission voted unanimously Wednesday to boost salaries for judges, the attorney general and secretary of state, while freezing the pay of other elected officials.

After 11 public hearings, the Washington Citizens Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials approved a total of $591,000 in salary increases for 301 elected officials. The commission took its final vote in Spokane.

The secretary of state will get the largest increase - from $64,300 to $69,000 a year.

Washington’s nine Supreme Court justices get the next biggest raise, from $109,880 to $112,078. Twenty Court of Appeals judges will have their pay raised from $104,448 to $106,537.

The state and counties will split the cost of a $1,980 raise for 158 Superior Court judges, who will make $100,995. District Court judges, whose salaries are paid by counties, will see their pay increase from $94,198 to $96,082.

The attorney general received the smallest salary boost, from $92,000 to $93,000.

The increases take effect Sept. 1. The commission meets annually to consider salaries.

Legislators and Gov. Gary Locke were not given salary increases.

“I can live with it,” Commission Chairwoman Debra Jo Buffelen said of the changes, although she favored cutting the governor’s $121,000-a-year salary.

The commission held three more hearings than required this year because of a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Leaders with Ethics and Accountability. The group claimed the commission didn’t give the public enough opportunity to comment.

Despite the two additional hearings in Spokane on Wednesday, nobody testified.

“We’ve done everything we can except drag people off the streets,” said commission member Beverly Myers.

“Either the public doesn’t give a rip, or they are satisfied with what we are doing.”

, DataTimes