Of all the foolishness of Oregon democracy, try raising the salary of an elected official. The air will warm with criticism, if not outright contempt.

It’s as if the people we put into office should be wealthy or cast aside the material world for monastic pursuit of public policy.

We don’t want our elected political heroes to be there for the money. But consider the pay for Bend mayor or Bend city councilors. Do we want to only elect people that are comfortable enough financially that they get relatively low compensation for their time?

Being Bend mayor doesn’t have to be a full-time job. If we expect it done right, it can come close. The mayor of Bend received a stipend of $19,540.08, the city told us last year. Councilors received $9,770.04.

Plenty?

Contrast it with the pay for Deschutes County Commissioners. They make about $125,000 a year. They are expected to be full-time.

A city compensation committee has recommended that the pay for Bend’s mayor and councilors should essentially be more than doubled and include health insurance.

The committee’s recommendation is to bump the mayor’s salary to a stipend of $50,000 a year. The total cost to the city would be $71,317. That includes insurance costs to the city and a $3,000 a year wellness stipend.

The committee’s recommendation is to bump councilor salary up to $30,000 a year. The total cost per councilor would be $51,317 because of the insurance costs and wellness stipend.

In total, the compensation cost for Bend’s mayor and six councilors would about double to about $400,000.

Would we get a Bend elected government twice as good? No. Do we give them more fair compensation and create opportunities where more people may feel like they can afford to run? Yes.

The committee looked at how mayors and councilors were compensated elsewhere. It also looked at the compensation for the county commissioners.

The recommendation is just a recommendation. The Bend City Council would have to approve any such change.

It’s important to know that the mayor and councilors would not be effectively voting to increase their own pay. There must be an intervening election before increases take effect. So an official would have to decide to run again and win their next election to get the increase.

The city of Bend did make a mistake when the compensation committee was coming up with these recommendations. The Jan. 5 meeting was a public meeting, but the city forgot to publicly notice the meeting, a requirement under Oregon law.

We happen to figure that out, because we were told the compensation committee finalized its recommendation. We didn’t remember being notified of any such meeting. Sure enough, the city confirmed it made a mistake and apologized.

The meeting is actually on YouTube for anyone to see at tinyurl.com/Bendpay.

So no big deal? No big deal.

The city may hold a publicly noticed meeting of the compensation committee to reaffirm the recommendation.

The more important question for Bend residents: Do they believe this sort of compensation increase is a good idea?