The benefits of public service

North Idaho's municipalities all have their own way of doing things, including how their elected officials are compensated for the time they spend serving their communities.

As noted in Thursday's Press, Coeur d'Alene City Council members, while receiving small salaries, share in the benefits of city employees when it comes to medical, dental, life insurance and other pieces of the compensation package.

City Councilman Dan Gookin came forward with his 2015 Total Compensation Statement, which separates the benefits in detail. He shared with The Press how comprehensive the benefits are for council members, who are technically not full-time employees.

"I think we should always be transparent and I think informing the public of what elected officials are paid is something that people should know," Gookin said Wednesday. "I think the compensation is OK, I don’t object to it, I don’t think we should repeal it or not be paid anything, but I think we should tell the public, 'This is what we’re being paid.'"

In the same conversation, Gookin said it would be interesting to know how Coeur d'Alene's neighbors do business when it comes to compensating their elected officials.

"I've never met anyone who said, ‘I’m going to run for city council because it's a career move,'" said Post Falls City Councilwoman Kerri Thoreson.

As the second-largest city in the area, Post Falls is represented by six city council members, to whom city benefits are also available.

According to its city code, "Each member of the city council shall receive a monthly salary in the amount of eight hundred sixteen dollars ($816.00) commencing Jan. 1, 2012. Each city council member shall be entitled to receive employee benefit offerings available to regular employees of the city."

Thoreson said the Post Falls benefits have never really been broken down like Coeur d'Alene's and it would be interesting to see.

"I would say that you would probably get the same response from every council person in Post Falls too," she said, referring to a review of a detailed breakdown of benefits. "It's not that we have special policies. We have the same benefit package that anyone employed by the city of Post Falls would have. We are considered employees, albeit part time, but it depends on who you are and what flexibility you have."

While the benefits are a great perk, Thoreson said she really doesn't believe anyone would choose to run for office because of them.

"When you are on the municipal level, it's certainly not volunteer work. We're compensated $800 a month, but it's not something where someone would run for the benefit package," she said.

In smaller communities such as Rathdrum, Spirit Lake and Hauser, city council members receive modest salaries and hardly any benefits.

"We don't pay benefits to our councilors," said Melissa Taylor, the finance director for the city of Rathdrum. "We're pretty easy-peasy."

Rathdrum's city council comprises four members who receive a monthly salary of $600. This is stated in the city's code, which can be found on its website.

Taylor said Rathdrum officials have discussed issues of council member compensation with benefits in the past, but found it wouldn't be "prudent" for the city to offer a benefits package.

"They just voted for a raise for themselves a couple years ago because it hadn't happened in about 16 years," she said.

As for benefits, she said they just don't fit in the budget at this time.

"The last several years it just hasn't come up," she said.

The city of Hauser is in the same boat. Its city council members receive a monthly $150 salary, but they have to obtain their own insurance.

"We receive just our small paycheck that we get and that's it," said Hauser City Councilwoman Laurie Griffith. "We have no other benefits."

Griffith said it's possible benefits could be implemented in the future, but not any time soon.

"Hauser is such a small community," she said. "Any funding we have we would put back into our community, I believe that would be best."

Ann Clapper, city clerk of Spirit Lake, said her first reaction to the article about Coeur d'Alene's benefits was, "Wow."

"Their (Health Reimbursement Arrangement/Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association) is more than a full-time employee at the city of Spirit Lake," she said.

Spirit Lake City Council members receive a salary of $50 a month with no other benefits except the $67.92 that goes into their PERSI (Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho) every year.

"Our council out here doesn't get near the bennies," Clapper said.