Opposition growing against Horiuchi's pay proposal

Opposition is growing against a proposal by Salt Lake County Councilman Randy Horiuchi that would allow council members to reduce staffing and increase their own pay.

Former councilmen Steve Harmsen and Mark Crockett are calling the proposal a money and power grab that amounts to governmental creep.

Horiuchi's proposal was publicly aired Tuesday during a county subcommittee meeting. It calls for a sliding pay scale between the county's nine elected officials and their respective administrative assistants so an elected official could take extra pay in exchange for choosing less-expensive hired help.

Elected officials would get to decide for themselves how much to be paid, as long as the total salary for their office doesn't exceed the current budget allocations, according to preliminary legal documents.

Council members would not be considered full-time employees even if they double their $30,000 annual salary, said Horiuchi, who was around in 1998 when county voters chose nine part-time representatives over three full-time commissioners.

"My theory is that three-quarter time is also part time," Horiuchi said. "The intent wasn't ever for us to go full time."

Council members already receive health insurance and retirement benefits, as do their aides.

Crockett said allowing the increased pay could ultimately pit the county mayor against nine full-time council members.

"This is turning it from public service as a board of directors to full-time counterparts of the mayor," he said. "I don't think it's a decision they should be able to make. The deal we made with the public is that we would serve, rather than this being a full-time job."

The former councilman added that if council members are paid for full-time work, all of their decisions could be made behind closed doors rather than in open public meetings.

Mayor Peter Corroon had not seen Horiuchi's plan by Tuesday afternoon but said his main concern about it was budgetary. The mayor does not see the proposal as a power grab against his office but was concerned about its legality, he said.

Wilson and councilman Max Burdick both work without aides, though Wilson plans to hire a summer intern.