LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The Kaua'i Salary Commission, which recommends to the County Council salaries for top government officials, has issued a preliminary report that Kaua'i County executive salaries significantly lag behind other comparable county and state positions and the private sector.

County department heads and other appointed positions have received a single raise in the past 10 years, and the commission in its report said this has affected the county's ability to fill its key managerial positions. The county engineer's position, though now filled, had long been vacant, and the Water Department manager's job has been vacant since December 2005.

Members of the Board of Water Supply and the Police Commission asked for a higher pay scale to attract candidates. In several departments, lower-ranking civil service workers can earn significantly more money than the department head, and would need to accept a pay cut to take the promotion to director of their departments.

The commission's letter did not propose new salaries. The panel will do that in a future submittal, before the county's deadline for creating the next fiscal year's budget in May.

The commission recommended to the council that the county consider a salary range for senior employees, with pay contingent on superior job performance. Such a system would require regular evaluations of appointees' performance. Under the current pay system, the mayor makes $80,000, and the top county department heads are paid $75,000. Directors of smaller departments make $72,000 annually.

"Effective succession planning is difficult because of low salaries. Nearly all appointed department heads earn less than their immediate subordinates, thus, employees have little incentive to seek a department head position as part of their career track. Salary increases are necessary to provide fair compensation to competent appointees and to prevent significant pay inversion," the commission said in its report.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.