Should Seattle's high-paid Port CEO get a raise?

Should Seattle's port chief — now among the highest paid port directors in the country — get a 10 percent raise next year if he does a stellar job?

A staff proposal that would have done just that was tabled Tuesday by the Port of Seattle commissioners, who opted for a broader public discussion about how much the port's chief executive officer should be paid, how that pay should be determined and how much the public should be privy to the discussions.

Tay Yoshitani, who became the port's CEO in 2007, earns $334,000 annually, more than the governor or Seattle's mayor, who earn about $167,000 and $159,000, respectively.

Yoshitani's last raise was in March 2008, and he is not scheduled to get one this year, according to Port spokeswoman Charla Skaggs. Yoshitani said Tuesday that even if one had been offered, he would have turned it down.

The CEO is one of nearly 1,640 Port employees who have taken or will take a two-week furlough this year. The Port also laid off five workers, and almost 50 employees took buyouts.

Trying to explain why someone who earns more than $300,000 should get a raise is a difficult conversation even in a good economy, Commissioner Gael Tarleton said.

"In a public agency," she said, "the executive doesn't necessarily deserve to have more of a pay increase than any other employee."

Yoshitani sat with a bemused smile at the meeting when a Port critic chastised the commissioners for even discussing raises in this gloomy economic climate, which has forced cutbacks in business and government, including the Port.

Paul Marvy of King County Citizens for Port Reform dismissed suggestions by Tarleton and commissioner Pat Davis that Yoshitani was virtually without peer in the state, and said the executive's pay should be compared to other port directors who earn less and have greater responsibilities.

Marvy noted that Yoshitani earns more than the $286,702 paid to the director of the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, who oversees Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports, as well as the nation's third-largest container port and a bridge/tunnel system.

Yoshitani oversees Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and the Seattle seaport.

Marvy also noted that pay raises for Washington state elected officials from the governor on down were suspended for two years last May because of concerns about the grim economy.

The five-member Seattle Port commission has been working for several months to find a way to make future executive salary decisions fair, predictable and public, said Bill Bryant, commission president.

"This is about how we evaluate the CEO in public," Bryant said.

One solution unveiled Tuesday would tie CEO pay increases to specific goals and accomplishments, but commissioners quickly retreated from it over questions about how success should be measured, and whether the head of a public agency should ever get a raise that exceeds the maximum percentage paid to others in the organization.

Commissioner John Creighton said the top increase for the CEO should not exceed the maximum 5.5 percent increases given to general staff.

Tarleton agreed, even as she praised Yoshitani and called for a wider discussion between the Port and the public about compensation.

The Port is funded by King County property taxes. The owner of a $300,000 home will pay about $69 in taxes this year to the Port, spokeswoman Skaggs said.

Susan Kelleher: 206-464-2508 or skelleher@seattletimes.com