(The Center Square) – Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said thanks, but no thanks on Monday to what would be a substantial salary increase for her in 2027 and 2028 as the city prepares to face another budget deficit.
Earlier this month, the city’s independent Salary Review Commission agreed to recommend increasing the mayor and city council members’ base salaries, but the officials didn’t put a hard number on it yet.
One member floated the idea of increasing Brown’s salary to $230,000, a 23.4% raise from $186,400.
The commissioners must submit a recommendation by the end of August, so Brown penned a letter to them Monday, citing the ongoing budget deficits while explaining that she already makes enough as is.
“I request the Salary Review Commission not to increase the current salary for the position of mayor,” Brown wrote, arguing that Spokane continues to face financial hurdles inherited from her predecessor.
Still, the decision to raise Brown’s salary is ultimately up to the commission regardless of her request.
While she did come into office in 2024 facing a roughly $25 million shortfall after former Mayor Nadine Woodward had exhausted the city’s general fund reserves, Brown has continued to increase spending.
To balance the books, she and the council have raised taxes and cut staff; some will leave next month.
“My administration inherited a large structural gap in the city budget that has forced us to make very tough decisions,” Brown wrote in the letter on Monday to Chair Reed Jessen and the commissioners.
Jessen said Tuesday that he hadn’t received a copy of Brown’s letter yet after her office sent it directly to The Center Square on Monday, though it was posted on SRC’s website by the time of the interview.
The mayor said in her letter that the administration is making progress on closing the “structural gap,” but inflation, healthcare and “other unexpected costs continue to create significant budget challenges.”
She wrote that families are feeling the impact at home too as they struggle to afford groceries and rent.
Brown’s letter came days after a resident testified at a council meeting, scrutinizing the idea of increasing the mayor’s salary after The Center Square had reported on the Salary Review Commission’s meeting.
“This would be a 23.4% increase from her current salary, and would have her alone making nearly three times the median household income in Spokane, which is $75,800,” Jordan Redshaw testified, after citing The Center Square’s reporting on the potential salary increases and recent council office staff cuts.
Redshaw said it seems “out of touch” for Brown to sit “aloft this giant marble throne” while some staff lose their jobs, though the recent reductions came at Council President Betsy Wilkerson’s direction.
Wilkerson previously suggested in an interview with The Center Square that the council is underpaid, arguing that a roughly $65,000 consultant’s report commissioned by the dais would reveal just that.
“I think the study is going to tell us that council members should be full-time,” Wilkerson said earlier this year, noting that council members are technically part-time despite working more than 40 hours a week.
The report obtained by The Center Square outlined several scenarios to cut staff for her to pick from.
“I want to know what can we, as citizens of Spokane, do to keep this in check? We are in a budget deficit. We have people who are being let go from their positions within the city government, yet we have enough money to make our mayor one of the highest-paid individuals in Spokane,” Redshaw testified last week.
Spokane County CEO Scott Simmons and Spokane Valley City Manager John Hohman, both unelected, earn more than Brown. Records obtained by The Center Square show Simmons making $216,085 and Hohman making $264,354, though both jurisdictions have different forms of government than the city.
Several city cabinet officials also earn more than Brown; for example, before the administration hired Kevin Hall as police chief in 2024, the city advertised that position’s salary as $201,868 to $247,804.
The Center Square requested the city’s general fund forecast for the years ahead on Tuesday from the mayor and council offices. Communications Director Erin Hut said it won’t be ready until Thursday.
She said the next budget meeting is that day after the council had waited months for the projections.
Jessen told The Center Square on Tuesday that he hasn’t seen the numbers on the next deficit either.
The council recently adopted priorities that could add millions of dollars in budget pressure. The only vote against them was from Councilmember Michael Cathcart due to the lack of an identified funding source. He previously told The Center Square that they could face another multi-million-dollar deficit.
“I’ve asked, and they said it wasn’t certain yet,” Jessen said, regarding whether the administration or council had provided data on the shortfall. “I don’t think we’ve ever gotten formal updates on budget.”
Jessen wasn’t at the last meeting when the commission voted to move forward with recommending a framework that would increase the mayor and council’s base salaries to reflect their actual workloads.
After speaking with Councilmember Zack Zappone, the commissioners also said that increasing elected officials’ pay could attract high-quality candidates who can’t afford to ditch their day job to take office.
Jessen raised concerns about the commission increasing elected officials’ salaries in 2024, but told The Center Square on Tuesday that he is reserving his opinion for now, while calling the letter a good start.
“The current compensation for the position of mayor is sufficient for attracting residents to public service and adequate for the duties and responsibilities of the position,” according to Brown’s letter.