By Brian Trompeter
Freshly elected Fairfax County supervisors who take office next January might be earning significantly more pay for the long hours they’ll put in.
County supervisors for the last eight years have earned $95,000 per year, while the chairman has received $100,000. The board at a March 21 public hearing will discuss paying future supervisors between $125,000 and $130,000 and the chairman between $140,000 and $145,000.
“A reasonable compensation increase recognizes the growing responsibilities and expectations of this job and will help Fairfax County attract board members who are able to meet those demands,” said Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville), whose motion to hold the hearing the board approved on an 8-2 vote. “Compensation should not be a barrier to run for, or serve in, public office.”
Both proposed pay ranges are lower than the county staff’s recommendations of $140,000 for supervisors and $161,000 for chairman. The board now has only a 5-percent pay differential between supervisors and the chairman, but surrounding jurisdictions on average pay their chairmen 15 percent more, Foust said.
Pay rates for area governing bodies vary considerably, with the District of Columbia and nearby Maryland jurisdictions paying more than Virginia localities.
Virginia law stipulates that current Board of Supervisors members cannot increase their own pay and must vote on raises for a future board during an election year. Any salary increases would have to take effect next January, when the new board takes office.
Supervisors’ jobs, although technically part-time, are full-time and then some, said Foust, who will not seek re-election in November. In addition to attending board or committee meetings most Tuesdays and keeping regular office hours year-round, most supervisors participate in a growing number of regional bodies for no additional compensation, Foust said.
Supervisors work “unbelievable” hours and a fair compensation is appropriate, he said.
“Our constituents rightly expect us to always be available to them in this electronic era, which makes the time committed to this job more involved and complex than ever,” Foust said.
Board members are not eligible for compensation increases – often considerable – that are granted to other county employees and they do not accrue annual or sick leave, he said.
Foust’s motion called for staff to develop a mechanism by which supervisors who disagreed with the compensation increases could return those additional funds they received to the county.
The motion also directed staff to begin providing pay comparisons between the board and area jurisdictions’ governing bodies every four years instead of Fairfax County’s practice of every eight years.
Supervisors Patrick Herrity (R-Springfield) and Walter Alcorn (D-Hunter Mill) voted against holding the March 21 public hearing.
Virginia has a long tradition of part-time elected officials, from the lieutenant governor to General Assembly members, said Herrity, adding that county police officers’ salaries lag behind the regional average.
“People come to this board for various reasons,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay (D), responding to Herrity’s remarks. “Some may have been born into a political dynasty and have wealth and have part-time jobs that allow this work to happen. Others don’t come from that background.”
McKay called much of the debate over supervisors’ salaries “political theater.”
“I certainly want a broad swath of individuals in the county to be able to afford to run and serve on this board and have a passion for doing that and reflect our actual community,” he said.
Higher salaries might entice more female and minority candidates to run for supervisor and allow future officeholders to support their families better, said Supervisor Dalia Palchik (D-Providence).
“We need this new generation of leaders to be able to make that choice and make it a little bit easier, a little bit less challenging on their families to be able to do this,” she said.
Supervisor Rodney Lusk (D-Franconia) said salary was a major topic of family discussion when he sought his first term four years ago.
“The only reason I could run was because I had spent 30 years working in this county prior,” said Lusk, the first African-American man to serve on the board. “If we want diversity, if we talk about the value of it, if we’re serious about it, I think we have to be honest about this question of compensation.”
Supervisors made $45,000 per year when Mason District Supervisor Penelope Gross (D) began her first term in 1996 and at least half of those board members also worked at other jobs to make ends meet, she said.
“Now that we’re virtual, we’re 24-7,” said Gross, who like Foust will be stepping down at year’s end. “At night you’re answering e-mails. You’re on all the time.”
