Elected county officials getting 2 percent raise

The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors voted this morning to reduce the compensation board?s recommendation for pay raises by 20 percent.

The compensation board had recommended a 2.5 percent salary increase for elected county officials, with the exception of a 3 percent increase for the sheriff. The supervisors? action sets the raises at 2.4 percent for the sheriff and 2 percent for all other elected officials.

The motion passed 2-1, after a motion to fully accept the recommendation failed and a motion to reduce the recommendation by 66 percent was withdrawn.

?It?s always been my feeling that we pick representatives to sit on the compensation board. I feel like there is a good group of individuals there making these decisions. I don?t think they make any of the decisions lightly,? supervisor Dick Reed said, supporting the board?s full recommendation.

The board takes the size of the county, cost of living increases and employee performance into consideration when reaching its recommendation, he said. Though it only directly applies to elected officials, the bump in salary generally trickles down to county employees in each department, Reed said.

?Can we afford it? I think we can. I think we need to,? he said.

Burgmeier said a 2.5 percent increase in the county?s roughly $3 million payroll translates into $75,000.

?When I look at what people are getting paid in Jefferson County, I look at other people in Jefferson County and not necessarily other people in some other dang county somewhere else because we don?t live somewhere else. We live here, and people that live here are paying our wages,? Burgmeier said.

?I think when you visit with the public, they don?t want you to be underpaid, but they don?t want you to be paid a lot more than someone doing the same service out in the private sector,? he said.

Supervisor Lee Dimmitt didn?t think 2.5 percent and 3 percent raises are unreasonable, but he?s concerned it?s too early in the budgeting process to set pay.

?I?m not sure how we can arrive at whether or not we can afford it until we?ve ? like we did last year, we didn?t make this decision until we had determined whether we were going to raise taxes or whether we weren?t going to raise taxes or what we were going to do,? Dimmitt said.

If the county decides to foot the bill for increases in health insurance premiums, as it has the last two years, Dimmitt said that also should be taken into consideration.

Burgmeier said the supervisors need to reach a decision on salaries to give other county boards direction. The board of health, conservation board and conference board must set salaries as well ? the conference board meets Monday.

Reed felt the supervisors already have enough information to make a decision and move forward on the budget with salary figures in place.

?I think taking care of county employees is important enough at this particular time [to act]. I don?t want them going backward,? Reed said. ?It doesn?t matter what you?re doing, your paycheck does not go as far as it needs to go. People are living from payday to payday.?

?The people that you?re asking to fund the pay raises are living exactly the same way, and they?re not getting a pay raise,? Dimmitt responded.

Reed?s motion to accept the compensation board?s recommendation as is failed 2-1.

Burgmeier made a motion to reduce the board?s recommendation by 66 percent.

?I think the compensation board acted faithfully and to take and knock their 2.5 percent [and 3 percent] recommendation down by 66 percent is not appropriate,? Reed said. ?I want to treat the employees and the elected officials of Jefferson County like good employees. I want them to hold their heads up when they?re sitting at their desks. I want them to provide good service.?

Burgmeier said this would not be the first time the supervisors have reduced the compensation board?s recommendation.

?We don?t know what we?re going to do. We?ve got $23 million in increased valuations. We?re not talking about lowering levies. It just seems to me that you don?t make this decision ? it?s not prudent until you know where you?re at,? Dimmitt said.

?If you talk to most people on the street, this is a pretty good place to work. The benefits are good. In fact, they?re better than a lot of locations out on the street,? he continued. ?It?s a simple statement of fact, that a lot of people out there that are going to be paying this bill, they?re not getting that pay raise. Their cost of living is not being taken into consideration. Their property taxes are not going down.?

?I think we can make this budget work with 2.5 percent,? Reed said.

He questioned what will happen in a few days when the supervisors meet with the road crew to discuss salaries. If those employees don?t feel the raise is fair, they may follow the jailers? suit and be the next to unionize, he said.

?Once the union gets in there, it paints a completely different picture,? Reed said. ?I?m proud that Jefferson County doesn?t have a union. I think we do a great job sitting across the table and working and taking care of them. To me, it?s more than for the elected officials, it?s for the other employees.?

?For somebody that is getting paid $20 per hour, even a 34 percent increase [of the 2.5 percent recommendation] is still 16 cents an hour,? Burgmeier said. Though he withdrew his motion to reduce the recommendation by 66 percent shortly after.

?When we get to the point that we see what we?re going to do, and if we?re not going to raise taxes, or we?re going to lower taxes than that changes my thinking as far as what we can compensate or if we can compensate,? Dimmitt said. ?If we?re going to sit here now and then down the road raise property taxes, I have a problem with that.?

He advocated waiting until closer to certifying the budget.

Reed and Burgmeier, however, outvoted him to reduce the compensation board?s recommendation by 20 percent.