Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 1, 1 January 2008 — Increases recommended in draft report by OHA salary commission [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Increases recommended in draft report by OHA salary commission

By Lisa Asatū | Publicatiūns Editūr Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustees would get an approximately 18 percent salary increase in 2008 and a 3.5 percent annual increase for three years after that under a draft recommendation by the OHA Salary Commission. The draft reconunendation is subject to public connnent and approval by the state Legislature. A final recoimnendation will be

drawn up after the next commission meeting in early February. The proposed increases, covering a four-year period from 2008 to 2011, would initially increase the Chairperson's salary to $57,000 from $47,000 and the salary of other Trustees to $50,000 from $41,000. At the end of the four years, in 2011, the Chairperson would earn $63,197 and other Trustees would earn $55,436. The salary commission approved the draft recoimnenda-

tion 7-0 at a Dec. 18 hearing at the state Capitol. Coimnissioners cited a desire to get salaries on par with that of the 2009 salaries of other elective officials in the state Legislature and four county councils, as well as cost-of-living adjustments, and to attract qualified candidates and new leadership when Trustees resign or retire. The average salary of Hawai'i's eleetive officials, minus the highest and lowest, is $56,976 for leadership and $50,340 for members.

"I feel good about what we finally eame up with in our decision based on the comparative data from the county and state," said commissioner Lulani Arquette, executive director of Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association. "If you look at where they're at in '09 then it makes sense that we would at least match that for our Hawaiian Trustees." Conunission vice ehainnan Ben Henderson said he felt the draft increases are "fair and equitable" and hopes that public will agree. "The Trustees deserve just eompensation for the hard work they do. We think our reconnnendation reflects that," said Henderson, deputy director for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, who will soon be leaving his post at DHHL to start a new job as president and executive director of Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center on Feb. 1. OHA beneficiary Marlene Morris said she would "definiteSee SALARIES on page II

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ly" support a pay increase for Trustees because she likes the kinds of programs OHA has done in the past as well as its plans for an nation-building conference this year. She also liked that it would make their salaries eomparable to those of state and city leaders. "I think they should get paid fairly for all the things that they do," said Morris, a retired credit and collections officer with Kaua'i Electric Co. who was visiting Honolulu last month from her home in Las Vegas. The commission must submit its final reconnnendations before the 20th working day of the 2008 session, whieh falls in mid-February. The reconnnended salary will take effect unless the Legislature rejects the recommendation by adopting a concurrent resolution before the end of the legislative session. The salary commission fonns every four years to study and

make reconnnendations on the Trustees' salaries. Connnissioners are nominated by Native Hawaiian organizations and appointed by the governor. The state Legislature set salaries for OHA Trustees at $32,000 in 1993. Since then, their salaries have increased onee, in 2004. The next meeting of the salary commission will be on O'ahu in early February. Those wishing to testify are asked to submit their tes-

timony to the Salary Commission at P.O. Box 2433, 'Ewa Beach, HI 96706, or by email to oha.salary. commission@gmail.com, at least 48 hours prior to the hearing. To request a copy of the draft recommendations, whieh is expected to be available in early January, email oha. salary.commission@gmail. eom, or download a copy at www.oha.org. For more information, eall 594-1835. ^

ON THE BOARD

Dale Bachman, Chair

Ben Henderson, Vice Chair

Noelani Ah Yuen

Dennis Fern

Ka'onohi Lee

Mike Loo

Lulani Arquette