After months of research on compensation best practices, guiding principles and criteria – as well as discussion with community — the final report of Portland’s Independent Salary Commission is now available online.
The new council salary rates are set at a public sector thriving wage with employee-paid premiums and cost-of-living adjustment. The mayor and auditor salaries relied heavily on market rates in cities of comparable size.
Mayor: $175,463.00
Auditor: $168,758.00
Council: $133,207.00
In addition, any elected official can choose to apply for the City of Portland’s Language Access Program and receive the differential pay amount if they qualify.
The Independent Salary Commission was created to remove the conflict of interest from elected officials approving their own salary increases. The commission is responsible for setting the salaries for the 14 elected officials at the City, including the mayor, the auditor and 12 councilors.
Going forward, the Portland Bureau of Human Resources will lead the work of an Independent Salary Commission every two years. While the Portland City Charter only requires an affirmative vote of three commissioners, the commission adopted a full consensus model to reach agreement. City council approval is not required.
Resources
Visit portland.gov/transition/salarycommission to follow the Salary Commission’s work.
Read the final report: