Supervisors approve compensation board’s recommendation

FAIRFIELD — The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors has approved the recommendations of the county’s compensation board to increase the salaries of the county’s elected officials.

The Jefferson County Compensation Board consists of seven members representing the six elected offices in the county. For the 2023-2024 budget year, the compensation board recommended increasing the salaries of elected officials by 10 percent, except for two officials — the sheriff and county attorney — which would get a 15 percent raise. At their meeting Monday, the supervisors approved this recommendation, and approved a $4,000 increase for non-elected employees.

Joneane Parker is chair of the compensation board, and said her board’s recommendation is derived from looking at the salaries paid by counties with similar populations. For instance, Jefferson County’s population ranks 48th of 99 counties in Iowa. The compensation board looks at the five counties above and five counties below Jefferson, and examines what their elected officials are paid to get a sense of the prevailing wages.

Parker said that, though these raises of 10 percent and 15 percent are larger than the past few years when the compensation board has recommended increases of 3, 2 and 5.5 percent, she said Jefferson County officials still weren’t being paid what their colleagues were earning in similar counties.

“We want to be as fair as possible to our officials,” she said.

The compensation board consists of Parker and Gloria Countryman, who both represent the Jefferson County Supervisors; Joe Carr representing the sheriff; Melva Dahl representing the recorder; Elizabeth Estey representing the county attorney; Phil Gevock representing the auditor; and Tom Louden representing the treasurer.

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