Vashon’s five fire commissioners made a total of $20,146 for performing their official duties in 2011, with Rex Stratton, last year’s board chair, earning the most at $6,704.

David Hoffmann, meanwhile, received $4,840 last year, the second highest figure — a fee he garnered for attending board meetings as well as reviewing the district’s payment vouchers for goods and services. The bi-weekly review generally takes him 30 minutes and occasionally an hour, according to the compensation forms he signs and submits; he receives $90 from the department each time he does so.

Both men, as well as the other commissioners, defended the practice, noting that the pay is allowed under state law and that their compensation doesn’t begin to cover the many hours they spend as elected officials overseeing Vashon Island Fire & Rescue. What’s more, Hoffmann said, he donates much of the money he receives to Islanders who are in a bind or to Vashon charities.

“I don’t keep it for myself,” he said.

Stratton, a lawyer, noted that he often spends many hours off-Island at meetings for the fire department and that his compensation — now $104 per day — doesn’t begin to cover the time he’s away from his office. Asked if commissioners should get paid, he answered, “Absolutely. The statute allows for this.”

The issue came up at a commissioners’ debate last fall, when Islander Jake Jacobovitch asked the four candidates who were running for two positions on the board if they’d waive their pay if elected. All four — including the two who won, incumbents Candy McCullough and Ron Turner — said they’d consider it.

Since then, none of the commissioners have decided to forego the stipend.

Four of them, however, do receive slightly less than the state allows. Two years ago, the state raised the per diems for fire commissioners and many other elected board members from $90 to $104; at the request of then-fire commissioner Gayle Sommers, VIFR board members opted at the time not to take the raise.

Stratton, however, rescinded that decision in October and asked to receive the full amount of $104 just days after The Beachcomber wrote an editorial calling the fire commissioners’ pay into question. In a letter to the fire department, he said he made the decision “in light of the editorial” in the newspaper.

Asked about his decision to seek the full amount, he said, “I thought you were bullying me, to tell you the truth. The decision is really mine.”

McCullough, elected earlier this month to chair the board, said she, too, thinks the pay is appropriate.

“It’s not unreasonable to give a stipend to people who are making decisions … about policies that affect the life and safety of our community,” she said.

“It’s not a wage. It’s a stipend,” she added. “I feel it’s reasonable for what the commissioners are doing.”

But some Islanders who are members of other governmental boards question the pay. The five Islanders elected to oversee the Vashon Island School District, for instance, could receive $50 per meeting but have never opted to take the payment. Commissioners for the Vashon Park District also do not get paid, though they, too, could receive as much as $104 a day.

Bob Hennessey, now in his second four-year term on the school board, said he thinks the fire commissioners are making a mistake by taking $90 to $104 per day.

“Symbolism is very important in government, and paying oneself close to $100 for an hour’s work sends a message that the department is flush with money and that the commissioners know how to take care of their own,” he said.

Islanders opt to run for office “for a lot of reasons, but being made financially whole shouldn’t be one of them,” he added.

Steve Haworth, who serves on the board overseeing Water District 19, said he and the other two commissioners get paid for their official meetings. He does not put in a request for pay, however, when he attends other meetings in his capacity as a water district commissioner.

Both Stratton and Haworth, for instance, represent their respective boards at the annual Vashon Island Emergency Management Authority meeting. Last year, Stratton requested his per diem for the 30-minute meeting; Haworth did not.

“I guess each elected official has to look into his own conscience and decide what is right,” Haworth said. Noting that the water district commissioners get paid for their official board meetings and nothing more, he added, “I’m content that the three commissioners of the water district have it about right.”

Fire commissioners, when they attend meetings off-Island, also get their gas mileage, food and other incidentals covered. School board members, however, rarely ask to have even those direct costs covered, some board members said. Kathy Jones, for instance, a school board member who goes to Olympia generally five times during the legislative session, said she does not put in for mileage, food or other costs.

“I just choose not to because I feel like it’s part of what I should be doing,” she said. “It’s something little I can do to support the cause.”

According to the fire commissioners’ compensation forms, which they fill out themselves, they routinely get paid their per diem of $90 to $104 for what amounts to an hour’s worth of work or less. On his January 2011 form, for instance, Hoffmann listed work on five different days that totaled just over three hours — three meetings that ranged from 30 minutes to an hour and two 30-minute reviews of vouchers. Because they were all on separate days, he got the $104 per diem for each listing, or $520 for that month. (Hoffmann later agreed to the lower per diem of $90.)

Stratton’s meetings are often longer and sometimes off-Island. That same month — January 2011 — he put in for 8.75 hours on six different days, garnering $624. On one of his busiest months, he logged 22 hours over eight days, for which he received $720.

The other three commissioners — Turner, McCullough and Neal Philip — generally sought per diems only for the twice-monthly official board meetings, although Turner occasionally reviewed payment vouchers with  Hoffmann last year. Turner, too, got  paid $90 for 30 to 60 minutes of voucher review.

Hoffmann, a Vashon Island native who is in his second term on the fire board, acknowledged that he could review the vouchers the same day as the commissioners’ meeting — a move that would lower his payment, since he’s paid per day not according to the number of meetings or activities he conducts on behalf of VIFR on a given day. In 2011, according to his vouchers, he logged 49 hours over 53 days, earning on average $98.75 per hour.

But Hoffmann, who works on the road crew for the King County Roads Division, said it would be difficult for him to review vouchers before the meetings because of his work schedule — four 10-hour days. What’s more, he said, he wants to review the audits while the staff is still there, so he can ask questions as needed.

The fire department got into trouble several years ago for questionable accounting practices, he noted, and the state auditor, in an audit critical of the department at the time, said commissioners should review  vouchers — which list payments the department makes for a variety of goods and services. Mindy Chambers, a spokeswoman for the state auditor’s office, confirmed that the state auditor wants commissioners to review vouchers.

As for Hoffmann’s rate of pay of $98.75 per hour, Hoffmann suggested that wasn’t a true reflection of his work for the fire district. “There’s a lot of other stuff we do off hours that we don’t get paid for. I don’t think that rate is accurate for the amount of time actually spent,” he said.

But Hennessey, with the school district, said he and other board members also review vouchers — doing so for a district that has a budget nearly four times the size as the fire department’s budget and without any compensation for that review. He questioned the fire board’s degree of involvement in voucher review, noting the fire board’s role is to set policy and oversee the big picture, not focus on the district’s day-to-day financial operations.

“That’s why we have accountants. That’s why we have business managers. That’s why we have CEOs,” Hennessey said. “Otherwise, what are we paying them to do?”

The commissioners’ per diem requests are signed by Susan Wolf, VIFR’s secretary. Hank Lipe, chief of the department, said he doesn’t get involved in the issue of commissioner pay.

“This isn’t my fight,” he said. “These are five individuals elected by the people who are my bosses. I don’t get into their business.”