With Statute Change, Arlington May Raise Board's Pay
County Might Follow Other Area Jurisdictions

By Tara Bahrampour
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Arlington County Board plans to vote later this month on whether to give its members a pay raise.

The move follows the repeal last year of a state statute that established the five-member board's salaries. The statute affected only Arlington; other jurisdictions already set their own salaries.

County Board members make $30,723 a year and the chairman about 10 percent more. The board's last salary increase was in 1996, when it was set at $25,000. Cost-of-living adjustments have pushed the pay up since.

State law forbids sitting county boards from raising their own salaries. Any pay raise enacted by a board must be voted on before July 1 of a year in which 40 percent of the seats are up for election and cannot take effect until after the election.

Pay for elected leaders varies widely in the metro area, and some have recently approved raises. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted last month to raise members' salaries from about $22,000 to about $40,000, effective next year. The chairman's salary will rise from $40,000 to $50,000 and the vice chairman's from about $22,000 to $45,320.

D.C. Council members voted last month to increase their salaries from $92,520 to $115,000, subject to congressional review. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors recently raised members' pay from $59,000 to $75,000, effective next year.

Not everyone has followed the trend. Corey A. Stewart (R), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, said he recently quashed requests by some members for an increase in their $39,737 salary. Stewart makes $45,256.

"These are hard times right now for the county," he said. "We're not going to be able to increase employee compensation very generously over the next two years. . . . The least we can do as board members is to keep our salaries where they're at."

In Alexandria, where City Council members make $27,500, salaries haven't increased in four years, although the matter periodically comes up, said Brian Hannigan, a city spokesman.

It is not clear how big an increase Arlington County Board members will seek. Chairman Paul Ferguson (D) said the board would probably base its new salary on what others in the region make.

"We don't want to be the highest in Virginia, but we want to put ourselves somewhere in the middle," said Ferguson, adding that he expected the board to agree on a salary between those of the Loudoun and Fairfax boards.

Because of the change in statute, the County Board must take action to establish its pay even if it decides not to change it.

After that, the board will be allowed to set its salary only every four years and the cost-of-living adjustments will be eliminated.

Most local elected officials are considered part time and are allowed to have outside jobs. Many say they put in full-time hours in their elected positions and deserve more compensation.

In addition to legislative meetings and work sessions, Arlington board members are expected to serve on other boards and committees in the county and region.

"I think it would be very hard to hold an outside position and do that job," County Manager Ron Carlee said. "They all have meetings all the time."

Ferguson estimated that as chairman he spends more than 50 hours a week on the job; as a regular member, he said, he spent about 40.

Mike McMenamin, a civic activist who ran for the board last year as a Republican, said he doesn't think board members should be raising their salaries, especially when they are projecting a budget deficit of more than $10 million.

"They haven't been doing a very good job with their money, and I don't know how they can be asking for a raise," he said, citing delays in bonded construction projects in recent years.

"You get paid for results, and to be quite honest, some of the results have been lacking," McMenamin said.

The board will discuss the raise and is likely to vote on the issue at its Jan. 27 meeting. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposal then.