2017-11-27 Salary Commission Minutes

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5 We had the same problem in 1989. 1989, with four 6 positions, we were so desperate that we went out and poached 7 from Maui. Page 26 1 understand why somebody who can still compete -- an athlete 2 who can still compete doesn't become a glorified referee if 3 he can still compete. I can only cite that the reason they 4 left is because the salaries are too low. raised their salaries, 5 We had the same problem in 1989. 1989, with four 6 positions, we were so desperate that we went out and poached 7 from Maui. Because our salaries, be as low as they were, 8 were higher than Maui's. And Maui, we poached four 9 prosecutors. And several months later Maui got the light 10 bulb go off in their head, and they raised their salaries, 11 and those four prosecutors ran back to Maui. 12 We don't need that kind of competition. We need 13 the same system that says, you know what, the legislature 14 should be paying for some of these salaries. Because what 15 these people do is basically mostly enforce state law. And 16 that's what Washington eventually came up with. They said, 17 okay, State of Washington, we're going to pay half of their 18 salary. We're going to tie it to what the trial judges are 19 making. We're going to pay -- the state's going to pay half, 20 but we're going to require the counties to pay what they had 21 been paying in 2008. 22 To me that sounds reasonable and it makes sense. 23 And we get rid of all this stuff about what Maui's doing or 24 what Kaua'i's doing. Because every county is entitled to 25 experienced and qualified prosecutors. Thank you. ISLAND COURT REPORTING & TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES (808) 933-9800