Tacoma City Council, mayor to get 4% pay raises in 2022
Tacoma’s mayor and City Council will get 4 percent pay raises starting in 2022.
The annual salary for city council members will increase from $44,990 in 2021 to $46,789 in 2022.
The annual salary for the deputy mayor — currently Keith Blocker — will increase from $50,003 in 2021 to $52,002 in 2022.
Mayor Victoria Woodards is the highest paid member of the council. Her salary will increase from $102,203 in 2021 to $106,291 in 2022.
The salary increases were decided by the Citizens Commission on Elected Salaries. On Aug. 26, the commission issued the decision that the increase is “fair and prudent” based on the council’s workload, increased cost of living and median household income.
A council member’s salary also influences whether people decide to run for office, said commission members.
“I do think about it in terms of making sure that these positions are available to whomever in the city wants to run for them, and that means making sure that people can actually survive on some of these wages,” said commission member Dalvin Yarbrough at an Aug. 23 meeting.
In deciding the new salaries, the commission looked at comparisons with other cities and the pattern of wage adjustments for city employees, which ranged from 1 to 3 percent, according to city staff.
The last time City Council wages were increased was in 2019, when the mayor received a 2 percent pay increase.
Tacoma voters created the seven-member salary commission in 2014 by amending the city charter. Prior to 2018, council members received annual 2.75 percent pay increases. That annual pay increase was eliminated in 2018, and the council received pay cuts. Since then, council member salaries, aside from the mayor, have not changed.
After years of not receiving one, the council members deserve a raise, the committee decided.
“(Council) understood last year because of COVID, we just simply couldn’t give them a pay raise. They were very understanding about that,” said commissioner Klaus Nalley at the Aug. 23 meeting.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
