SPOKANE, Wash. — A recent social media post claims Spokane County Commissioners gave themselves a 19 percent raise based on comparisons to other Washington counties.
The post also claims commissioners denied giving County Prosecutors, Sheriff's Deputies, and other county workers a raise based on the same metric.
This is a topic KREM verified in October 2017. A viewer reached out saying they believed Spokane County Commissioners received two 19 percent salary increases in the last five years. Additionally, that county employees were only offered a three percent salary increase.
They were also concerned about comparing salaries in other counties to gauge the increase for Spokane county commissioners.
KREM verified these claims with Spokane County Human Resource Director Tim Hansen.
Hansen explained the county commissioners do not decide on their own salaries, but a 10-member panel called the Citizens' Committee on Salaries does.
The committee approved the 19 percent salary increase for county commissioners in March 2017. This bumped the board's annual pay to more than $100,000
But Hansen says that increase in 2017 came 11 years after the board's last salary increase to $93,000.
The board did not receive two, 19 percent salary increases in the last five years, but rather one increase in 11 years.
Averaged out, it would be like the commissioners getting a 1.73 percent increase per year.
As for county employee salary increases, Hansen said those are negotiated privately with respective unions. Spokane County Commissioners weren't the ones to deny salary increases for county workers.
KREM also confirmed the Citizens Committee on Salaries approved the 19 percent increase after comparing Spokane County to similar counties.
Those included Benton, Kitsap and Pierce. But not King County because if they did, the committee would've found a much higher average.
There is also a claim that Spokane County Commissioners are considering giving themselves another raise next year. We are still working on verifying that information.
As mentioned before, it's not the commissioners who approve their salary increase, that decision is made by the Citizens' Committee on Salaries.