The amount, which would have to be approved by the Salary Commission, is 29 percent more than the current annual salary of $158,851 for police chief.

It’s also more than the nearly 23 percent increase to $195,000 a year that Pelletier said he thought would be “fair,” based in part on his comparisons with salaries of police chiefs of departments covering similar populations in Richmond, Santa Clara, Inglewood and Hayward, Calif.

Chiefs of those departments were paid more than $200,000 a year and have fewer officers than the 400 positions allotted to the Maui Police Department, according to figures presented by Pelletier at an online commission meeting. In 2020, Maui County’s population was 164,754, U.S. Census Bureau data show.

Pelletier said he gave the same presentation last month to the Salary Commission, which made the request before he was sworn in Dec. 15.

“We all know living here that Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the United States,” Pelletier said at the meeting Wednesday. “And we know Maui costs more. We all know that the median cost of a house is a million-plus.”

He also presented figures showing that in fiscal year 2022, two of the three MPD assistant chiefs earned base salaries of $166,920 and $167,412 a year, which were more than the chief and deputy chief and was “problematic,” Pelletier said.

While officers represented by the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers union are receiving pay increases of less than 1 percent this fiscal year, Pelletier said such officers are paid 25 percent of their daily rate to be on standby to respond to emergencies.

“If I’m working approximately 60 hours a week, which is average now, I’m making what a lieutenant in the department makes,” Pelletier said. “However, lieutenants are given standby pay. Lieutenants are given overtime.”

In recommending a salary of $195,000, Pelletier said, “I think that’s extremely reasonable.”

He said the amount is less than the $205,800 that was paid in fiscal year 2020 to the chief of the Honolulu Police Department. The department said on its website that it has 1,820 officers for a population of 1,016,508 in 2020, according to Census Bureau data.

“And I think Maui County deserves to be second to no one and we shouldn’t be looking to anyone else as a barometer,” Pelletier said. “We should be first and foremost leading the state.”

The police chief of Hawaii County was paid $153,270 in fiscal year 2022, according to Honolulu Civil Beat’s database of public employee salaries. The department had 483 police officer positions as of August, according to Hawaii County Police Commission minutes, for a population of 200,629 in 2020,

The police chief of Kauai was paid $137,022 in fiscal year 2022, the salary database shows. Civil Beat reported that the department had about 170 officers in 2019; the county’s population was 73,298 in 2020,

Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino’s annual salary is $151,979, a county spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.

At the commission meeting Wednesday, Vice Chairwoman Roberta Patnode asked if there was data comparing Pelletier’s salary suggestion to those of other county department heads.

“It was relayed back that it’s not comparing apples to apples because I have more personnel,” Pelletier said. “My level of responsibility exceeds everybody else.”

Commissioner Mark Redeker said he didn’t think $195,000 was unreasonable so Pelletier’s pay would be more than all assistant chiefs.

“It would certainly compensate him and the deputy for all the extra things they’re required to do,” Redeker said. “He’s working very hard and doing a lot of things that we wanted him to do.”

Other commissioners said they thought Pelletier’s pay should be even higher.

“This is an expensive place,” Patnode said. “The chief has a tough job. He has to represent us on a federal level all the time. It should be one of our very highest paid positions in this county.”

All nine commissioners voted in favor of Commissioner Janet Kuwahara’s motion to recommend a starting salary of $205,000 to the Salary Commission.

If Pelletier’s salary is increased to that level, the annual salary for Deputy Chief Charles Hank III would increase from $150,908 to $196,600, which is 4 percent less than the chief’s salary.

Chairman Frank De Rego will represent the commission at an online Salary Commission meeting at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 11.

According to minutes of the Salary Commission’s meeting Dec. 10, commission members voted 6-1 to defer 2 percent salary increases for the mayor, Council Chairwoman Alice Lee and council members until 2023. One commission member expressed concern about where the money would come from and said it wouldn’t be fair to the community to increase government salaries when businesses are taking losses.

Maui County spokesman Brian Perry said the county administration agreed to reimburse Pelletier $15,000 for his moving expenses, but isn’t paying for Hank’s moving expenses.

The money will come out of MPD’s administration program, Perry said.

“We have not yet seen the amount requested for reimbursement from Chief Pelletier,” he said by email.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.