Washington County salary commission recommends 10% chair premium, 2% commissioner increase for 2025

The Washington County Salary Commission on June 12 agreed to recommend a 2% increase to commissioner pay for 2025 and to set the chair’s salary at 10% above the commissioner base, members said.

Commission members said the recommendation is intended to reflect the additional duties and public responsibilities of the chair while keeping the county’s pay roughly in line with comparable jurisdictions. “It is very clear that the seat has…additional compensation given the additional role and responsibility,” Chair Faisal Aziz said during the meeting.

The commission’s recommendation also incorporates a permanent countywide PERS pickup (a previously announced 6% pension pickup that increases employees’ take‑home pay), and commissioners said the commission will treat future adjustments the same way other county employees are treated — i.e., by adopting any board‑approved cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) in subsequent years. Commissioner Ibrahim, who favored a lower premium initially, said he would accept the 10% chair premium for the sake of consensus.

Why it matters: The commission’s recommendations will be included in its final report to the Board of County Commissioners and, if adopted by the board, will change the compensation benchmark for the county’s elected…