Madam Mayor Pro-Tem,

I request that the City Council salaries be decreased by 5% in the proposed budget. My reasoning is as follows:

As we do our best to trim the budget, we make decisions about the work conditions as well as the salaries of full time city employees. These employees’ lives are directly affected by our choices. It would be unfair for us to watch their budgets being cut without looking at our own. I appreciate the fact that no other departments have pointed their fingers at the council's budget, and I attribute this to the high quality of employees that we have. It is my belief that as we are the legislative leaders, we must set a good example.

Some people have noted that in the middle of a recession, the only ones hiring (or not cutting salaries) are governments or government-related services. Just because other jurisdictions are doing it, we cannot give ourselves a free pass.

Our salary commission looks at other cities to determine what salary to recommend for us. Presumably, other cities can refer to the City of Washougal to determine their own salaries. Therefore, we potentially are affecting other jurisdictions. I believe this reduction is appropriate, though, and reflects the trends in the private sector.

I also see that this decrease sounds more impressive than it is. A 5% decrease in the salary of the Council nets a savings of $2,100 total for the year. This is not nearly enough to plug any holes in the budget; however, I believe that it is an appropriate measure to take indicating our willingness to cut our own budget.

Sincerely,

Michael Delavar