SNOHOMISH COUNTY—At its Monday meeting on April 15, the 10-member appointed Snohomish County 2024 Salary Commission is proposing a 5-percent minimum salary increase for Snohomish County government elected officials; and a 28.9-percent (or $53,180) increase for the Snohomish County Sheriff position. If approved by the Board at its meeting at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, April 25, the base compensation for the Sheriff will be approximately $237,399, up from $184,219.
“That is a pretty sizable bump,” Cory Rein, Salary Commission said at Monday’s meeting.” Especially for the Sheriff, that is a big one. I was comfortable doing it because, Rob was it you, who ever told us that whatever we do here is not going to have a negligible impact on any budgeting issues. So, I wasn’t worried about it causing budgetary problems.”
According to the United States Census, the median household income for Snohomish County as of July 1, 2022, is estimated at $104,083. However, the average annual wage (per person) in Snohomish County was $66,912 for all industries in 2020, according to the Washington State Employment Security Department. The statewide average wage is $73,504, but Snohomish County residents make significantly higher than the statewide average of $50,834 when King County is excluded from the dataset. The average wage in Snohomish County is also higher than the national average of $64,021. The median hourly wage for Snohomish County residents was $30.08 in 2021, compared to a statewide median wage of $30.50 per hour.
Charlotte Murry, Chair of the Salary Commission, during the meeting shared that although there is this “disparity” between what elected officials make relative to the public they serve, “we also need to take in consideration the work [the elected officials perform] that is being done.”
“Granted, being a civil servant is not as profitable, it’s like working for a nonprofit in some ways; there has to be a desire to serve,” Murry said.
She added, “we have to move the needle” but “how do we back up what we want to do.”
Unlike the agreed upon methodology by the commission being applied to all other salary positions which is to utilize comparable salaries by titles from nearby and similar jurisdictions, and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) report, as in prior commissions and commonly accepted by city appointed salary commissions, a “rightsizing” approach was favored at last Monday’s meeting by commissioners as an exception only for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s position.
Originally, the commission also considered “rightsizing” the County Executive’s position but declined after an email on behalf of County Executive Dave Somers shared satisfaction with his current salary and a letter from County Council President Jared Mead raising concerns of the “rightsizing” methodology.
The methodology of rightsizing, utilized by the Salary Commission, sought to increase the salaries of the County Executive (28%) and Sheriff (28.9%) relative to their respective highest paid staff person. For the County Executive, it would be his Deputy County Executive at $245,584; whereas for the Sheriff, it would be to her Undersheriff at $235,049, both with an additional 1 percent starting January 1, 2025. The Deputy County Executive and Undersheriff position are both appointed by the County Executive and Sheriff respectively.
For all other positions, the commission will be taking the average of the comparable salaries and if the calculation is less than 5 percent, the salary will be bumped to the 5 percent threshold starting January 1, 2025. The proposal also has all positions with a 5 percent increase for January 1, 2026.
The March 28 Meeting: Elected Officials Compensation Presentations
On March 28, elected officials gave presentations on their and department’s role and advocated for wage increases. Those who presented to the Salary Commission were Linda Hjelle, County Assessor; Garth Fell, County Auditor; Heidi Percy, County Clerk; Jason Cummings, County Prosecuting Attorney; Susanna Johnson, County Sheriff; Brian Sullivan; County Treasurer; and non-elected official Heidi Beazizo, County Council-Chief of Staff.
During the March 28 meeting, the wife of the Snohomish County Undersheriff, Jaqueline Jeske, testified in support of raising the current wage for the Sheriff position. She stated it is unfair for reports to the Sheriff to be compensated more that the Sheriff, and that the lower pay restricts the best candidates for the position.
Sheriff Susanna Johnson confirmed with the Lynnwood Times that she appointed Douglas Jeske, husband to Jaqueline Jeske, on January 1, 2024, “a top-step Captain with 37 years of experience.”
In her presentation to the commission, Johnson advocated, as did other elected officials, for an increase but did not ask for a specific amount nor percentage, only that it would be difficult to fill the role of Sheriff because the salary for the position has fallen far behind the pay in the area for the profession.
“I ran for this position because I believed that I had the training and experience to help the Sheriff’s Office meet the challenges of increasingly complex law changes and community expectations,” Sheriff Johnson told the Lynnwood Times. “I understood that if I was successful in getting elected that it would negatively impact both my salary and lessen the amount I would receive in my pension. I recognize that most people would not take a job that requires more work and an increase in risk exposure for less money.”
Sheriff Johnson did share with the Lynnwood Times that currently ten positions within the Sheriff’s Office pay more than the elected Sheriff responsible for the safety of hundreds of thousands of residents. In the County Executive’s Office, there are also positions that currently pay more than the elected County Executive position.
Members of the commission during last Monday’s meeting addressed their concern that it was not fair for the sheriff to have taken a cut in salary and argued that the position must pay well to attract talented individuals. However, at no time during their discussion was it mentioned how much of a pay cut Sheriff Johnson took when she vacated her Bothell Police Department position.
According to the employment agreement obtained by the Lynnwood Times, the total compensation for Johnson as Deputy Police Chief with the Bothell Police Department that she vacated in December of 2023 to accept the Sheriff’s position was $199,564.67 + 6% premium or $211,538.55, slightly less than the $214,000 salary calculation according to the comparable model methodology—not the “rightsizing” model—used by the Salary Commission for all other positions, except that for the Sheriff position.
Compensation Feud
An email to the Salary Commission on April 15, just hours before the meeting, from Harper Lacey on behalf of County Executive Dave Somers, shared the monumental responsibilities of the Executive position from overseeing all Snohomish County government business to handling emergencies to resolving challenging situations with competing interests. Although the County Executive is “charged with countywide authorities and responsibilities,” the letter states, he is satisfied with the current compensation of $210,700.
“I’d also like to add that, as in years’ past, the Executive feels he is appropriately compensated,” the email to the Salary Commission on behalf of Executive Somers states.
According to the comparable model methodology agreed upon at last Monday’s meeting, the County Executive position is expected to receive a 7.156% salary increase to $225,778 starting January 1, 2025, with a 5 percent increase on January 1 the following year, to $237,067.
“Personally, he [Somers] feels he is compensated appropriately,” Cory Rein, Salary Commission said. “But…for other people going forward; for other people who may be interested in the position, someone who might be in private industry looking at the [inaudible] cut they are going to take and looking at the salary to come serve the public…that is my only take on it.”
Originally the commission in their prior meeting considered elevating the County Executive’s salary to $248,039 for January 1, 2025, with a 5 percent increase on January 1 the following year, to $260,442. This would align with the commission’s “rightsizing” methodology it is applying to the position of Sheriff.
Snohomish County Council President Jared Mead, in an April 11 letter to the Salary Commission stated his concern that the “rightsizing” methodology unfairly compensates the County Executive relative to County Council members.
“The gap between the County Executive and a Councilmember’s compensation grows to a disproportionate level, comparative to the gap between the King County Executive and King County Councilmembers,” wrote Mead.
He added, “I do not believe the workload and duties of the Executive versus the Councilmembers justifies this large of a differential.”
Mead then went on to request the commission “rightsized” all County Council position salaries to their highest paid staff with a 1 percent increase as with the proposed County Executive and Sheriff positions, if the commission were to move in that direction. This would result in an increase of 28 percent for County Councilmembers to $180,724 starting January 1, 2025, with a 5 percent increase on January 1 the following year, to $189,760. In past commissions, it has been a tradition for the County Council President to receive an additional 10 percent in compensation relative to the County Council member salary.
A second compensation option Mead suggested to the Salary Commission for County Council members was to align “Councilmember’s salaries to those of the other County independently elected individuals, such as the Treasurer, Assessor, Auditor, and Clerk – all of whom currently are compensated more than a Councilmember.”
Compensation History
When comparing compensation for the Sheriff’s position between Johnson and her predecessors, the salary commissions for those periods approved a total increase of 11 percent from 2021 to 2024, of which 8.5 percent was in 2023 and 2.5 percent in 2024. A total increase of 24.95 percent for the previous four years (2017 to 2020) was approved by those commissions, and 7.85 percent was approved four years earlier from 2013 to 2016.
The Lynnwood Times did not find any PDC contributions to the Susanna Johnson campaign by any member of the Salary Commission nor was there any evidence of support for or against Johnson by any commission members on social media during the 2023 Election.
Salary Commission Authority
The 10-member Salary Commission serves two-year terms without compensation. They set base salaries according to the duties of office and to attract citizens of “the highest quality to public service” according to the county. The offices whose salaries are set by the commission are the county council, executive, assessor, auditor, clerk, prosecuting attorney, sheriff and treasurer. The deadline to submit an approved salary schedule is May 1.
In 2006, the voters of Snohomish County approved an amendment to the Snohomish County Charter that requires the recommendations of the commission to become law by January 1 of the following year without further action by the county council or executive. Compensation changes by the Salary Commission can only be overwritten by referendum petition in accordance with SCC 2.105.080 and Charter section 6.120.
Supplemental Material
Author: Mario Lotmore
