Yet again, elected and civil leaders are jockeying to give themselves a pay raise. This time it’s happening at Honolulu Hale. Their justification? They work long hours, and better pay will help retain good talent. Interesting. That’s the same argument that the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA) has been making on behalf of ordinary working people for years.

Are the long hours of City Council members more valuable than those clocked by lifeguards or civil engineers? Council members are already banking nearly $70,000 a year for a part-time job. The proposed increase would skyrocket their salaries to an obscene $136,000. And it’s still a part-time job.

When lawmakers are eager to give themselves generous pay raises, one has to wonder if they would show similar enthusiasm for relieving financial stress on the men and women who keep Honolulu running. Forty-four percent of Hawaii ohana are characterized as ALICE (asset- limited, income-constrained, employed) families and struggling to make ends meet, according to Gov. Josh Green’s office. And a good lot of those people are government employees.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi seems to think this is about equity and fairness. In his letter to the Honolulu Salary Commission, he argues that HGEA members negotiated an increase in 2019, so his salary and those of his administration should follow suit. But here’s the thing: an 11% increase on a $48,000 salary is an absurd comparison to Blangiardi’s salary jumping from $187,000 to $209,000.

Honolulu Hale currently struggles to recruit and retain high-quality civil service workers. In fact, some 34% of city positions in Honolulu are currently vacant. Abundant vacancies equal less-efficient services for the people of Oahu.

Take for instance police dispatch employees. Increasing their pay might help the Honolulu Police Department recruit more personnel to fill numerous openings. Instead, existing operators are frequently forced to work excessive amounts of overtime and are getting burned out. Another example: The Department of Planning and Permitting has a 25% vacancy rate, causing a months-long backlog of building permit applications and extreme delays to secure a building permit.

Do administration officials and Council members deserve a raise? Sure. But now is not the time. With thousands of vacancies that the city has been struggling to fill for years, leaders should be focused on increasing salaries to recruit and retain a qualified workforce before boosting their own. Blangiardi recognizes the importance of offering salaries that are competitive with those offered by the private sector, and yet, the city fails to apply that same principle when it comes to essential public employees.

The city should build a strong foundation of public service before raising the ceiling of managerial pay.

Randy Perreira is executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association.