Of the 20 largest cities in Washington, Spokane Valley now ranks seventh in population but a distant last in the amount it pays its mayor and city council members.

If a salary increase goes into effect as a special commission proposed this week, Spokane Valley will move up the salary ladder, but only two rungs to 18th.

The mayor’s monthly pay would climb from $500 to $975 and a council member’s from $400 to $750. Even when added to the $569 in benefits that the elected city leaders receive each month, that’s far from princely compensation for the responsibilities involved. Present pay levels, adopted when the city incorporated in 2003, are the minimum set by state law.

And there they will stay if a citizen activist’s plan to cancel the raise succeeds, as happened last year to an earlier proposal for a slightly healthier boost.

If it happens again, it will call into question just how serious Spokane Valley voters were when they voted narrowly in 2002 to form a city of their own out of what had been an urban but unincorporated area of Spokane County. Measured by population, it was the second largest incorporation in U.S. history, but it began life as a city with salary levels comparable to much smaller towns.

Initially, that wasn’t a huge problem. Those who give birth to new cities provide a reservoir of civic dedication that can nurse a fledgling municipality through its formative years. Having provided the drive and commitment to achieve incorporation, they supply the initial leadership needed to get the entity on its feet.

But leading a city of 85,000 imposes round-the-clock sacrifices that eventually overwhelm the enticement value of token salaries. In time, the only competent candidates willing to seek those jobs will come from a narrow band of the wealthy and elite. Spokane Valley needs a wider talent pool than that.

Fortunately, the law provides for creation of an independent commission to study the situation and propose appropriate increases if necessary. The proposals can be thwarted by citizen petition, however, as happened a year ago in Spokane Valley.

Citizen activist Sally Jackson, who led the last anti-salary effort, plans to do it again, saying, “The last thing they need is a salary increase.”

The question Spokane Valley residents should consider is not what salary their leaders need but what the task demands.

How much is the job worth – the job of running a respectable city, overseeing its streets, providing public safety, managing its budget, being answerable at all hours? Those are among the considerations that should determine the pay. If those in office aren’t worth it, voters should replace them.

At present, none of Washington’s 20 largest cities expects less of city leaders – using salaries as the indicator – than Spokane Valley. Not even Richland, with barely half the population.

Jackson opposed incorporation and would like to see it reversed, but the voters saw things differently. Unless they have changed their minds about becoming a city, they should take the steps necessary to be one.