The mayor of Poulsbo will become a part-time position in 2026, the City Council approved at its Oct. 16 meeting.

The salary will be $50,000 with about $11,000 in taxes such as social security and Medicare. The council can decide to increase the salary but not decrease it.

The move coincides with the city looking to hire a full-time city administrator. The position is budgeted for 2025, and the city is hoping to fill that spot while Mayor Becky Erickson is still in office to allow for some “crossover time” before a new mayoral term begins Jan. 1, 2026, city clerk Rhiannon Fernandez said. Erickson has announced she will not be seeking a new term, meaning 2025 will be her last year in office. Erickson has been mayor since 2010, and started as a councilmember in 2008.

The city administrator will be hired by the mayor, Erickson told Kitsap News Group. The position, under the direction of the mayor, acts as the chief administration officer of the city for day-to-day operations and makes recommendations to the mayor and council for policy, the job description states.

The position is being funded by the Business & Occupation tax the council approved in December of 2023, which took effect July 1. The salary is expected to be between $190,000 and $220,000 depending on experience, per documents.

“As our city’s grown and the complexity’s grown…we need to evolve our leadership team,” Councilmember Doug Newell said. “We need a full-time trained professional and someone to represent the people as the mayor of our city. I think this is the right approach. I do believe that if somebody is going to run for mayor or political office it’s out of love and community service as much as it is about…salary,” he concluded, noting that many mayors make less than $50,000 in cities of similar size.

Councilmember Gary McVey added, “I think it’s important we don’t have two full-time people trying to run the city. The whole reason we’re doing this is to have a full-time professional city administrator with administrative experience to come in and provide further consistency and continue moving our city forward. I think this does that.”

Councilmembers Britt Livdahl and Rick Eckert said the city is limiting itself to mayoral candidates since a full package of benefits is not offered.