If voters approve increasing the number of Port of Olympia and Thurston County commissioners this fall, both elected bodies will have five members, up from three each now.
But that's where the similarities end between the commissioner positions, particularly when it comes to salaries and benefits for commissioners and support staff.
To add two new elected officials to the Board of Thurston County Commissioners, the county estimates it will cost $754,000 a year, which includes salaries and benefits for the commissioners, plus salaries and benefits for two commissioner assistants, said county spokeswoman Meghan Porter.
And that's on top of the roughly $1.1 million a year the county already largely pays in salaries and benefits for the three existing commissioners — Tye Menser, Carolina Mejia and Gary Edwards — and their assistants, Porter said.
A check of a county salary database for 2021 shows that each county commissioner earned a little more than $126,000 that year.
At the Port of Olympia, however, the two additional commissioners is expected to cost $145,000 a year. Combined with $238,000 in existing costs for port commissioners Joe Downing, Bob Iyall and Amy Evans Harding and the total comes to $383,000. Those figures also include the cost of benefits, administrative support, legal needs and travel, according to port data.
Why is there such a stark cost difference between the two commissions?
For one, the county commissioner positions are considered full-time work, while being a port commissioner is considered part-time work. The scale of running the county is much larger than running the port, which has a much smaller budget and fewer duties.
But that's not to say some port commissioners wouldn't welcome a raise.
Right now they earn $600 per month, plus a per diem, or daily allowance, of $128 when they are on port business. They can claim per diem pay up to 96 days per year, according to port data.
Commissioner Downing, who is retired, takes home around $1,000 a month as a commissioner, he said.
He puts in about 20 hours a week on port business, which includes checking emails, talking on the phone, preparing for commission meetings and attending to inter-jurisdictional duties three or four times a week. Like a lot of elected officials, port commissioners also sit on other boards.
Downing acknowledged that a person can't live off what he earns, but there also hasn't been a discussion about increasing commissioner pay. He's open to it.
"Yes, I would like to make more," he said.
Commissioner Iyall was stunned at how little port commissioners make, he said. It's not a priority for him right now, he said, but at some point during his port tenure he would like to see "compensation equal to the task."
Iyall said he also puts in 20 hours a week on port business, on top of a full-time job.
There's a chance that port commissioners will become busier if they add more members. More commissioners likely means sub-committees will be formed, Iyall said.
Both Downing and Iyall also think that higher pay would attract a wider field of port candidates. In the past, port seats have been filled by the retired or nearly retired, such as Downing, or former commissioners Bill McGregor and George Barner.
But Commissioner Evans Harding took a different view.
"No, I do not think we need a raise," she said. "We are busy, but the workload of county commissioners is not comparable."
She also thinks the part-time duties of the port commission is what appeals to potential candidates.
"I believe part-time, citizen-led government allows diverse individuals to serve, which creates better representation," she said. "It also encourages more people to run for office."
A closer look at the numbers
