Thurston County commissioners approve letter asking Salary Commission to withhold pay increases for county elected officials

At the April 9, 2025 work session, the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners approved, by consensus, sending a letter to the Salary Commission requesting that it "not approve any salary increase for the Board of County Commissioners this year, and do not make recommendations to increase salaries for the other County elected officials." Chair Ty Mentzer read the proposed wording during the meeting and said the draft incorporated input from multiple commissioners.

Commissioners discussed reasons for the request, including current fiscal pressures and concerns about unintended "ripple effects" on organizational pay and succession planning. Commissioner Wayne Fournier and others acknowledged the approach is not ideal long term but supported it for the current difficult fiscal year. "Because in general, it's an interference with a process that then has ripple effects," Chair Ty Mentzer said, summarizing concerns about pay compression and downstream impacts.

County Manager Leonard Hernandez and other commissioners noted that negotiated employee contracts usually include cost-of-living adjustments and step increases, which creates different dynamics for elected-official pay and employee compensation. Hernandez said that portrayal in media had not captured those dynamics completely.

The board indicated it would send the letter to the Salary Commission; commissioners gave a verbal "thumbs up" and the chair said he would send the letter forward. No formal roll-call vote was recorded during the meeting and commissioners described the action as sending a request rather than adopting a county ordinance or policy.