Redmond mayor axes 600% raises for council members

The mayor of Redmond made a last-minute decision to nullify city council members from a near 600% pay increase after the Redmond Salary Commission considered raising the salaries of city council members to $115,000 a year.

The council members currently make just under $19,000 a year now. With benefits included, the salaries would have jumped past $140,000.

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That kind of raise in salary would require a tax increase, or job cuts at other city departments — something she does not want to happen.

“As Mayor, my job is to manage the city and the financial resources entrusted to me by the community and to ensure that your tax dollars are spent responsibly on services that best serve the priorities of Redmond,” Birney wrote in a prepared statement. “To maintain the city’s finances, I have no choice but to take action. As of today, I have notified and officially disbanded the Salary Commission, per my authority.”

The Redmond Salary Commission was attempting to decide just how big a raise to give the city’s part-time council members with a vote originally scheduled for next week.

“Whatever decision we end up coming to it needs to be something that allows someone to live in this very high-cost living area and serve and represent the people,” Commissioner Othman Erekaini told KIRO 7 before Birney’s decision.

KIRO 7 contributed to this reporting