Jefferson County supervisors reject raises for elected officials

FAIRFIELD – The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors voted Monday not to give any raises to the county’s elected officials for the upcoming fiscal year.

The Jefferson County Compensation Board, which studies the salaries of elected officials, voted at its meeting in January to recommend a 10 percent raise for the sheriff and a 4 percent raise for every other elected official in the county.

Dee Sandquist, who is the chair of the board of supervisors this year, said the supervisors decided not to give any raises to elected officials because of budget constraints. In particular, the county is having to comply with a mandate from the Iowa Legislature that will require all counties to reduce their general basic levy to $3.5 per $1,000 of taxable valuation within five years. Sandquist said Jefferson County’s general basic levy is now just under $4, so the supervisors will need to take steps to reduce it slightly each of the next five years to comply with the new law.

“This year, the legislators have told us they’re not done with property tax changes, so we’re not sure what’s going to be implemented,” Sandquist said. “We’re not finished with our budget, and we understand property tax concerns. We also know that for every decrease, there’s going to be a trade-off in services.”

Sandquist said the county, along with every other county in the state, will have to do a few new things with its budget this year to comply with new state law. One of those is to hold two budget hearings instead of one, and the other is to send out a mailing to every resident in the county to inform them of the extra public hearing. Because of this extra hearing, the state has also changed the deadline for filing a budget, pushing it back from March 31 to April 30.

“Legislators tell me that people want property tax relief,” Sandquist said. “But many county services are required by the state. They have given us unfunded mandates, yet we’re also told to reduce spending.”

Sandquist said approving a zero percent raise for elected officials is rare but it has happened before. She noted that this does not apply to all county employees, just the elected officials, though this decision does affect the salaries of the deputy office holders in each department.

Joneane Parker, who has been chair of the Jefferson County Compensation Board for four years, said she understands that the supervisors can’t always follow the recommendations of the compensation board. She said the supervisors have a “big job,” and she is aware that supervisors in surrounding counties have also rejected raises for their elected officials.

Parker said the compensation board recommended a 10 percent raise for the sheriff so that his salary would be commensurate with other law enforcement officials in the state, which was part of the “Back the Blue” law the Legislature passed a few years ago. She said the compensation board recommended a 4 percent raise for all other elected officials to keep pace with a 3.5 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index, which measures the cost of living.

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