Public input sought on proposed salary hikes for some top city officials

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Honolulu Salary Commission is considering a 3.6% pay raise for some top city officials. While the proposal wouldn’t apply to Mayor Rick Blangiardi or City Council Chair Tommy Waters, it does include some other key city leaders.

The proposed raises come just seven months after a controversial 64% pay raise for the council.

The latest ones being considered are just a fraction of that and include the police and fire chief.

But some councilmembers could still get another pay hike.

Here is the current proposed raises that the public will be able testify about at an upcoming Salary Commission meeting at 1 p.m. at Honolulu Hale:

The proposed raises are based in part from a survey conducted in February to see what the salaries need to be in order to be adequate and competitive nationally.

Although the Salary Commission acts independently, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office said Blangiardi did not ask the body to consider raises for himself, the managing director or his senior cabinet officials this year, citing the raises they received in 2023.

HNN political analyst Colin Moore said the 64% increase for the City Council was significant, but most civil servants didn’t get anything close to that.

“A raise of this parentage is probably not going to raise a lot of eyebrows,” he said, referring to the latest proposal. “This is in line with what a lot of employees have received.”

Councilperson Augie Tulba was one of three Honolulu City Council who turned down the 64% pay raise last July.

The most recent proposed raise would increase the pay of the other council members from just over $113,000 to nearly $117,000. Augie says he still doesn’t want the money, and instead wants to see raises start from the bottom up.

“People that work in the parks. People that do maintenance on our roads. The rubbish man. How about giving them a raise? I just think it’s bad optics,” said Tulba.