Washington County raises employee, officials’ salaries

WASHINGTON — County supervisors have enacted pay raises for all staff in the coming fiscal year, taking a first step in the annual budgeting process.

The vote on Dec. 10 authorized pay raises of 2% for all elected officials and their deputies — whose salaries are tied to those of their department heads — and 2.5% for all other staff. The Board of Supervisors chair’s stipend was not changed.

It was the first of many expected tough decisions over next fiscal year’s budget, as the county struggles to balance staff and public needs against capped tax revenue and rising expenses. It was also the supervisors’ first time making salary calls without guidance from an advisory commission which the state disbanded earlier this year, and which the county opted not to reinstate.

The 2.5% number matches the federal Social Security Administration’s cost of living adjustment for the year, which is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, a price index from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that tracks over 200 items, including cereal, clothes, cars, rent and alcohol.

Supervisors initially debated a stronger wage hike of 3.5%, based on the oft-repeated but erroneous belief that federal cost of living adjustments don’t account for food or gas prices.

The board ultimately aimed lower, however, citing worries about the county’s funds.

"We need to start making some decisions about what effect those changes make to our overall budget,“ Supervisor Marcus Fedler said. ”It would be nice to say we could beat cost of living adjustments, and it would be nice to be wherever we need to be to get people to apply to these positions, but at the end of the day, we’re pretty well fixed on what we can do, hamstrung, if you will.“

Much of the debate revolved around House File 718, a state law passed in 2023 that aimed to curb ballooning property taxes, but which local governments have criticized, saying its limits on growth punish past fiscal responsibility and encroach upon home rule over a variety of fiscal policies.

Complicating matters, Washington County doesn’t know yet how much tax revenue it’ll bring in next year. Treasurer’s office and budget officials say they hope to have an estimate in January.

Two supervisors voted against the 2.5% raise: Stan Stoops and Richard Young.

Young later said he worried the board hadn’t fulfilled its obligation to “show their work,” citing recent state laws mandating that pay changes for any county staff align with those of similar employees in the private sector and neighboring counties. That question is expected to come before the board again Dec. 17, Young said after the meeting.

Stoops, meanwhile, said he worried the 2.5% number wasn’t high enough.

“We’ve had to make some drastic changes in the past in order to bring some employees, in order to keep them,” he said. “I don’t think three-and-a-half is that much out of line.”

A 2-3 vote shot down an identical proposal for elected officials and their deputies, before supervisors narrowly passed a 2% raise for those officials on a 3-2 count, with Supervisors Bob Yoder and Young voting no. Yoder had made the motion for 2.5%, and Young went on to cite the same concerns about decision-makers showing their work.

Supervisor Jack Seward Jr, made the successful motion, saying he hoped it would limit government spending.

“We’ve been good enough in the past few years, and we do need to hold our expenses down,” he said. “I think holding them down a little bit with elected (officials) would help.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com