Of the 39 counties in Washington, five are on the state auditor’s list for potential bankruptcy. Luckily, Clallam County is not one of them, county administrator Jim Jones said during the Sequim budget forum Thursday, Oct. 2.

However, in his preliminary budget message to the county commissioners Jones notes an expected 5.6 percent decrease in the general fund revenues from the previous year, bringing it down from $32.84 million to about $31 million because of slowed public timber sales, reduced sales taxes and state cuts.

“State reimbursements are projected to be reduced in many areas, while major economic indicators for the Olympic Peninsula remain flat or project slightly lower,” Jones wrote in the 2015 preliminary budget message.

Set the example

Peering into the economic future of Clallam County, Jim McEntire, Clallam County District 1 commissioner, admits he isn’t a guy that always “colors inside the lines.”

McEntire first suggested lowering the salaries of eight elected officials (three county commissioners, sheriff, assessor, auditor, treasurer and the Department of Community Development director) during the board of county commissioners’ discussion about the 2015 budget at a meeting in early September.

Despite his proposal being met with some opposition, McEntire intended to bring his idea back to the board’s attention in early October and did so during the board’s work session Monday, Oct. 6.

Echoing Jones’ message, McEntire’s suggestion also stems from his review of the federal 2015 budget, the state’s education fund status, including the McCleary decision, a state gasoline tax, potential state carbon tax and the local anticipated tax levies for the Sequim and Port Angeles School districts, Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center and Fire District 2, he said.

“We elected folks who are hired by the people so I think it is incumbent that we take into account where the people are economically,” McEntire said.

Originally, McEntire provided six options in addition to the status quo for lowering the eight salaries, including the most drastic option that equates to the largest annual savings of $233,000. To reach such savings would require a range of salary reductions from the greatest decrease of 46 percent of the assessor’s, treasurer’s and DCD director’s (for incumbent) monthly salaries from $6,493 to $3,509, to 11 percent of the sheriff’s monthly salary from $8,312 to $7,370.

Since the commissioners’ initial discussion, McEntire has another alternative of putting together a Citizen Salary Commission that would take salary decisions out of the hands of the commissioners.

Although the board doesn’t adopt the final budget until Dec. 9, McEntire feels it is timely to discuss potential adjustments to the salaries of elected officials because any reductions of salaries must be made before the General Election on Nov. 4.

Not the right time

Given it’s nearing elections, both Commissioners Mike Chapman and Mike Doherty are concerned with the timing of McEntire’s suggestion.

“I would prefer that anything we do to a resolution also comes with a letter that we would be presenting to the Charter Review once they’re elected,” Chapman told McEntire during their Oct. 6 work session. “It’s not fair to the people running for office that three commissioners can walk in October and radically change the pay.”

Chapman does agree “there needs to be a better, more predictable system and one that the citizenry has the chance to take a look and say this is what these jobs should pay,” he said.

Before decreasing the eight elected officials’ salaries to save a “relatively small amount in a $30 million plus budget,” Doherty said he would like to review alternative approaches – though he did not give any examples of alternatives.

“In my mind there are a lot of other ways one could  make up the amount of revenue that is subject to this decision,” Doherty said.

Bill Benedict, Clallam County Sheriff, said McEntire’s suggestion to reduce elected officials’ salaries is “symbolic” given the little amount of money saved and the potential it creates for “unintended consequences that exceed the benefits.”

The $233,000 saved from McEntire’s most drastic suggestion equates to 0.74 percent of the $31 million projected 2015 general fund reserve. “For sure, cutting elected officials’ salaries won’t balance the budget, but it’s a way of acknowledging the fact that we need to start making changes to reach a balanced budget,” he said.

Instead of reducing managerial salaries, Benedict’s approach would be to “adequately” compensate the people, like elected officials, that can help get the county away from the gloomy economic forecast. County and city officials should be looking at alternatives, like consolidation of services between the county and cities, Benedict said.

Benedict said he routinely saves the county $300,000 to $400,000 annually because of “smart spending.” Benedict also actively searches for additional funding sources and generates an average $500,000 annually from grants. Not to mention the $1 million generated from jail revenues, Benedict said.

“The cost benefits from services we provide outweigh the costs saved from cutting salaries,” Benedict said.

Comparisons

One of the real roots of the issue with cutting elected officials’ salaries is the imbalance between the salaries of elected versus appointed positions, Benedict said. Despite Benedict’s $15 million budget and his responsibility to manage 102 people, Benedict is paid less than the Sequim Chief of Police whose monthly salary in 2014 was $8,768, according to Lajay Gove, City of Sequim payroll administrator.

However in comparison with counties comparable to Clallam County in size and costs, Benedict’s monthly salary was the highest in 2014 among sheriffs from Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, Mason and Lewis counties, according to a county comparison compiled by Jones.

One factor Jones is unable to compare in contrast with similar counties is the amount of time the

other county’s elected officials actually devote to the position.

In Clallam County the elected officials tend to all be full-time working department heads whose presence is required for the department to properly run, Jones said, but in other counties this may not be the case.

Despite the time commitment for elected officials within the county, the way salaries are determined “is a no-win contentious issue when it’s solely up to the commissioners to determine what their fellow elected officials’ salaries are,” Jones said. “It’s an awkward way to do it.”

While the board of commissioners continues to discuss ways to balance the budget, the preliminary budget message for 2015 from Jones isn’t all “gloom and doom,” he said, and “expects we’ll be OK,” despite the estimated $481,787 use of reserves to balance the budget. The areas most impacted because of the anticipated cuts from the state in grants and contracts for services include: Assessor’s Office, Community Development, Sheriff Operations, Health and Human Services, Juvenile Services and Superior Court.

Moving forward, Jones anticipates filling a $400,000 to $500,000 hole in the budget yearly because he doesn’t foresee an increase in revenues despite the increasing costs of living.