City Council Awards Commissioner Pay Raise While Denying Health Workers
While Commissioner McGregor received a 50% salary increase without requesting it, the council flatly refused to increase the meager $60 monthly pay for sanitary inspectors working in hazardous conditions.
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The city council boosted the salary of Commissioner McGregor from $200 to $300 a month last night without batting an eye, but raised a righteous howl and would not consider for a moment the raising of the salaries of the sanitary inspectors who put in from 12 to 16 hours a day, running into all sorts of contagion and filth in their endeavors to keep the city free from sickness and dirt. The sanitary inspectors get only $60 a month, less than a common cop. Hogberg did not think it a square deal for the health officials. Stambaugh declared he would not vote for the $1,200 extra a year for the commissioner, as he had not asked an increase and had taken the job at the old price and said he would serve out his term. Armstrong also objected to the salary boost, but it went through, these three being the only men opposing it.
“The sanitary inspectors get only $60 a month, less than a common cop.”
Public sector pay equity remains a volatile topic in Tacoma today. The tension between administrative salary spikes and the underfunding of essential frontline public health staff echoes the same municipal budget battles fought over a century ago.
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