By NANCY COOK LAUER
Stephens Media Hawaii
Christmas is coming early for 31 appointed legislative staffers who will get 4 percent raises retroactive to July 1, thanks to action Wednesday by the Hawaii County Council.
The raises, calculated to match similar raises granted unionized clerical staff, will bring a council aide’s salary to $31,512 and the special assistant to the council chairman to $50,444.
Salaries for legal specialists, auditor assistants, legislative specialists and assistants to the county clerk will also see 4 percent increases, bringing their salaries into the $27,639 to $90,540 range. This is the first raise since 2008 for a class of workers who also took unpaid furloughs for three years.
“They completely work their butts off,” said Kona Councilman Dru Kanuha, voting in favor of the raises.
The proposal, introduced by Chairman J Yoshimoto, would cost the county about $56,000 a year.
The resolution passed 8-1, with Hilo Councilman Dennis Onishi voting no. Onishi wanted to give the lowest paid employees raises first, noting the council had hired all its new aides at the highest salary step, effectively making it unfair for the more senior staffers, who won’t make more.
“I think they already got their raises,” Onishi said. “The staff should be lucky to get one job. … That’s the choice they know coming in.”
South Kona/Ka‘u Councilwoman Brenda Ford wanted to increase the ceilings for each of the step increases for staff, in order to make it more equitable.
“We have employees who have been here for many years who have not had a pay increase for that time,” Ford said.
But other council members balked at such large increases and suggested proposals be taken up when the next budget is voted on in the spring.
Before salaries and length-in-office increases were frozen by the Salary Commission in 2010, council members made between $47,928 and $49,920 a year, depending on seniority, thanks to a 22 percent increase granted in 2008. The council chairman made between $53,220 and $56,544.
Hamakua Councilwoman Valerie Poindexter said she had doubts about the raises, adding that many workers in her district make just $9 to $10 an hour. She ultimately voted in favor of the measure.
“These are good wages,” Poindexter said. “I still have a hard time supporting an increase at this time because I think it should be done with the budget.”
Yoshimoto said he wanted a flat percentage increase rather than changing the step increases. He said he chose 4 percent because that’s what employees in the Hawaii Government Employees and United Public Workers unions were getting.
“I wanted to keep it simple,” Yoshimoto said.
Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille, however, noted that appointed nonunion council staff, whose tenure is usually only as long as their boss stays in office, can’t really be compared to their unionized counterparts. Council members are term-limited after eight years.
“Union employees,” said Wille. “That’s a whole ‘nother ballgame there.”
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
