Jefferson County Supervisors agree not to give themselves raises

FAIRFIELD – The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors agreed not to give themselves a raise for the upcoming fiscal year, a reversal of a previous decision which would have given the supervisors a 10 percent raise along with most of the other elected officials in the county.

Though the supervisors approved a motion at their previous meeting on Feb. 6 dealing with salary increases for elected and non-elected officials, they decided to revisit the matter at their meeting Feb. 13 to clarify whether part-time employees would receive the same raise as full-time employees.

However, this led to a broader discussion about whether the raises the supervisors approved for elected officials were fair. The supervisors approved the compensation board’s recommendation to increase the salaries of the sheriff and county attorney 15 percent, and to increase the other elected officials’ salaries 10 percent. They also approved an across-the-board increase of $4,000 for fulltime county employees. The proposed increases for elected officials was higher than in previous years, when the compensation board has recommended increases of 3, 2 and 5.5 percent.

Supervisor Lee Dimmitt got the ball rolling by suggesting that the supervisors should receive less than a 10 percent raise, possibly 1-2 percent or even no raise at all. Supervisor Susie Drish was open to this, and added that the supervisors should consider not just themselves but other people who will fulfill the role of supervisor in the future.

Ultimately, the supervisors voted 3-0 in favor of giving themselves no raise, after first considering a motion to give themselves a 1 percent raise and then later withdrawing it.

During the discussion about elected officials’ salaries, the supervisors heard from county department heads, some who are elected and some who are appointed. Chris Estle, administrator of Jefferson County Public Health, who is appointed, said that this year’s proposed increases have become “convoluted,” because the supervisors are not sticking to an across-the-board increase as they have in the past.

Shawn Morrissey, director of Jefferson County Conservation, also an appointed position, said the proposal has an “inkling of unfairness” because elected officials would receive more than the appointed officials.

“It’s a little confusing,” Morrissey said. “It’s like you’re picking some people as more important.”

Dimmitt said that the supervisors were limited in how they could change the compensation board’s recommendation, since the supervisors could only cut the raises by a certain percentage.

“We can’t make the 15 equal to the 10,” Dimmitt said.

Dimmitt said the supervisors could not afford to give all county employees a 10 percent raise.

Supervisor Dee Sandquist suggested cutting the compensation board’s recommendation in half, so that the sheriff and county attorney would get a raise of 7.5 percent, and the other elected officials would get a raise of 5 percent, while the supervisors got 1 percent.

Jefferson County Treasurer Mark Myers, who joined the meeting via Zoom, said that a 5 percent raise for elected officials would be less $4,000, which the supervisors had agreed to give all fulltime employees. In response, Dimmitt floated the idea of instead of cutting the compensation board’s recommendation in half, to simply trim one-third off the percentages.

At that point, Estle and Morrissey said they would prefer the supervisors just stuck to their original proposal, because cutting it would end up hurting their employees.

Sandquist said she heard from county residents after last week’s meeting who told her the $4,000 across-the-board raise was too high.

The supervisors decided it was best to stick to the 15 and 10 percent raises they had approved the week before, and to clarify that the $4,000 across-the-board increase for fulltime employees would apply to part-time employees on a prorated basis. The only modification from last week’s resolution was that the supervisors would not get a pay increase.

In other business, the supervisors unanimously approved a resolution declaring ambulance services an “essential service” in the county. The relevance of this is that it would allow the county to fund the service in the future either through its general fund or by giving voters the opportunity to impose an ambulance levy.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com