LIHU‘E — In a procedure unique among Hawai‘i counties, Kaua‘i County councilmembers unanimously voted Wednesday to approve raises that will likely affect some of their own salaries.
Salary Commission Resolution No. 2022-1 increases the maximum salaries of the mayor, department heads and councilmembers 15% by July 2024.
Salary Commission Vice Chair Laurie Yoshida explained the rationale behind the raises Wednesday, citing inflation, salary inversions and similar increases in collective-bargaining agreements.
“This doesn’t keep pace with inflation because inflation is higher,” said Yoshida. “We’re just making sure that our salaries aren’t falling behind.”
The measure bumps the council salary from $67,956 to $78,672 in 2024. The council chair makes $76,452, and would make $88,502.
This doesn’t mean that all the councilmembers will be receiving a raise. Council Chair Arryl Kaneshiro and Vice Chair Mason Chock are terming out this year, and all seven seats are up for election in November.
That said, several councilmembers appear poised to reclaim their seats, with Councilmembers Luke Evslin, Bernard Carvalho and KipuKai Kuali‘i towards the top of the field in primary results, and incumbents Felicia Cowden and Billy DeCosta neck and neck in the seventh and eighth spots after the primary race, respectively.
Though all the members supported the measure as a whole, not all approved the council raises.
DeCosta introduced a proposal that would have removed the county council raises from the resolution, increasing salaries only for the mayor and department heads.
An article published Sunday in The Garden Island incorrectly stated that the county council had passed a similar measure in 2019, rejecting their own raises. A measure that would have done this was introduced, but ultimately was voted down.
“I believe we are in a recession. The United States and the rest of the world are struggling,” said DeCosta. “This is a way for the council to show that we are public servants.”
Councilmembers voted down the proposal, with only Cowden and Chock joining DeCosta in support of removing the council raise.
Those opposed to removing the council salaries said the current salary leads to councilmembers having to take on more than one job and limits the pool of potential council members.
Evslin said that keeping salaries more in line with inflation was key to “attracting younger candidates across the demographic spectrum.”
Of the sitting councilmembers, only Cowden does not have a second source of income.
Kaneshiro works as a consultant and sheep rancher, where he makes more than $100,000, ethics disclosures show.
Carvalho receives a state employees retirement income of $70,000. Kuali‘i is paid $22,000 by the YWCA. Evslin gets $20,000 from his business Kamanu Composites, and works as a part-time teacher at the Island School where he makes $5,000. Chock gets $20,000 through the public employee retirement system, and DeCosta gets $70,000 from the state Department of Education, along with $36,000 in rental income.
Kaua‘i is the only county in the state in which the county council holds sway over its own salaries. In Maui, for instance, salaries for the mayor and councilmembers are decided by a salary commission that does not answer to the county council.
Councilmembers expressed distaste over their say in council salaries at the meeting Wednesday.
“I’ve always had a problem with how the process is set up,” said Chock.
Chock said the Charter Commission is currently looking at making changes to the way the process works.
“The best course of action in the long run is to get it out of our hands,” said Chock.
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Evslin made $30,000 from Kamanu Composites and that he worked as a substitute teacher at the Island School. That information came from a January 2022 ethics disclosure, instead of the June 2022 filing.
Guthrie Scrimgeour, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-0329 or gscrimgeour@thegardenisland.com.
This is as disgusting as the conditions of the public restrooms and fecal bacteria count at our beaches.
Blatant thievery!!!
Our we going along with the Stockholm syndrome forced on us willingly????
Who saw this coming!!! Looks like our island has public servants that serve themselves! Almost all you guys make more money than most of us! Were just left picking between buying food and paying anything else. Some of us make just enough to not qualify for food stamps yet battle the water and electricity getting turned off. I just find it sad that you pay yourselves more and use inflation as an excuse when we will just get taxed more to cover those raises.
Absolutely disgraceful.
Kaneshiro’s “second” source of income amounts to over 100K…!!
Carvalho is receiving 70k retirement pay from the state and may soon be receiving an additional almost 80K from the county – OUR tax dollars pays for all of his income!!
These are supposed to be public servants!!!
Also, I’d like to know who sets the salaries for the Salary Commission???
We’re supposed to be seeing a proposal on November’s ballot to amend the county charter so that the Salary Commission has the power to set salary caps for the council and other county government officials. Not sure if that is a good thing if the Salary Commission is already being this frivolous with resolutions like this one!!!
All of you should be ashamed of yourselves, this is disgusting. I wish us the people had some sort of recourse.
When the rest of us have to tighten our belts several notches because of hyperinflation, our C of K officials see fit to inflate their salaries while we have to do with less. If they are reelected it will not be by my vote!
Ok, some have already made my comments as to how wrong this is on so many levels. Too many of our citizens are relying on food banks to feed their families, struggling to pay bills, rents are rising and many fear for their homes. Homeowners insurance went up 40% in the last 2 years, adding thousands to their cost. A previous article talked about “how the mayors and council members of other islands make more” ! So, this is about keeping up with the Joneses not about ability and contribution. Many of these council members make more as outside income or pensions than the majority of Kauai residents, without the fat county paycheck. As for “keeping up with the payments made under union contracts”, maybe they should look at who negotiates these contracts. Another excuse is that “subordinates ” make more that the bosses. I thought they were stopping “salary spiking ” with overtime to pad pensions ?? I have to admit, I voted for many of these members in the primary, mostly because I felt the others running for the positions did not have policies that aligned with the needs of Kauai. However, I will seriously be rethinking this come the election in November. Seems the “needs of the few” outweigh the needs of the many. Apparently our current council members are totally out of touch with the people they are supposed to serve.
This is absolutely disgusting. For county council members that say they are about helping the homeless are doing so for public image not because they really care. This place is a joke to the rest of the world but yet will always be until something changes. They are already overpaid and to give them raises is pitiful. They shouldn’t be paid at all. They are supposed to be community servants not greed stricken individuals that care nothing about the condition of the island. This place doesn’t look like paradise anymore. It looks like a third world country. We don’t have money for road clean up crews but we have an excess of money to pay public “SERVANTS”. Any council member that votes for their own raises is as crooked as it comes! If you voted for your own raise u won’t be getting my vote. Now I know why a lot of local residents are moving to the mainland bc this crooked stuff wouldn’t fly there.
Totally disgusting, especially after they had the nerve to squash the bill that would have allocated money towards affordable housing.
I gues now we know why…the rich get richer and the poor get the jag
It’s nice to be the Ali’i!
The Council just voted AGAINST letting the Citizens decide if we should set aside 2% for affordable housing. When I read that it helped me decide who to vote for in the primary. Now, seeing this news, it has winnowed my vote to just a few.
If you don’t think the job pays enough, DON’T RUN. If you, the citizens, don’t like someone voting themselves a raise with taxpayer dollars take note! The definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. In this regard, I think Kauai may be just a bit touched.