Salary increases perplex county supervisors

MARENGO — Iowa County Supervisors struggled to decide what to do with salary recommendations from the Iowa County Compensation Board in December.

While the Board of Supervisors is willing to comply with the State mandate which will raise the sheriff’s salary from $108,641 to $133,311, it doesn’t know how to pay for that increase plus 10% raises recommended for the other elected county offices.

By law, the county must accept the entire recommendation, reject it all or cut it by a certain percentage across the board. The only exception is that supervisors may decrease their own compensation separately, which Iowa County supervisors have done the past three years, they said.

Iowa Code mandates in section 331.907 that the sheriff’s salary be set comparable to salaries paid to professional law enforcement administrators and command officers of the state patrol, the Division of Criminal Investigation of the department of public safety and city police chiefs employed by cities of similar population to the population of the county.

The mandate was part of the Back the Blue bill signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2021.

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Kayne Robinson, who spoke for the Compensation Board, said in his report to county supervisors that the board considered the importance of law enforcement relating to Interstate 80, with its heavy volume of traffic, and the proximity of Iowa County to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, which increases the number of criminal investigations.

The Compensation Board also considered salaries paid to professional law enforcement administrators in areas with similar populations to Iowa County, which is estimated at 16,500 by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Newton’s police chief makes $138,281, according to the Compensation Board. Its population is 15,760.

Indianola, population 15,833, pays its police chief $140,931; Norwalk, with 12,799 residents, pays $152,038; and Boone, population 12,460, gives its police chief $105.996.

The average salary is $133,311, said Robinson, and that’s what the Compensation Board recommended to Iowa County Supervisors for the Iowa County Sheriff. The increase is about 23%.

Supervisor Chairman Kevin Heitshusen noted that the compensation board only makes recommendations. The County doesn’t have to follow it. “I understand the intent,” said Heitshusen, “but we have to have an out.”

Supervisor Jonathan Degen asked Robinson if the Compensation Board considers what the county can pay. Robinson said the board’s job is to consider salaries in other places as well as what the county can pay.

Supervisors have to consider “what we can afford and what it will cost the taxpayers,” said Supervisor Abby Maas.

It’s not fair to say that the Compensation Board didn’t consider taxpayers and the size of the county, said Robinson. The board considered ability to pay and what is fair pay.

The raises recommended by the compensation board would add $336,160 to the county’s budget, said Maas. And 65% of that is in the sheriff’s increase.

Adding raises for other county employees would put the county’s total salary increase at more than $862,000, Maas said. The county would have to increase property taxes by 8.4%.

After the state code changed to mandate how the sheriff’s salary should be calculated, some counties immediately raised the sheriff’s salary as high as needed to meet the mandate, supervisors said. Iowa County tried to take the increase in smaller chunks but is falling behind.

The law says how the sheriff’s salary is calculated but not how many years it has to take, said Robinson.

“I’d like to see us follow the code,” said Supervisor Alan Schumacher. “We need to get it done.” But tying it to a 10% increase for other elected officials makes it cost prohibitive.

“You have to give the 10% too,” said Heitshusen.

Social Security increased by only 3%, said Schumacher. How can the county ask for 10% for county employees?

Jim Johnson, a resident who attended the meeting, said his property taxes are going up 18%, but his pay increased by just over 3%.

“We have doubled the salary of the sheriff in 10 years,” said Maas. Salaries of other elected officials rose 60% in that time, she said, while inflation was only 36%.

“I’d just like to get the sheriff up,” said Schumacher, so the county doesn’t keep seeing 20% increases for that position. “We’ve got to get back to the cost-of-living [increases].”

“We’ll never have the money to do it, though,” said Supervisor Chris Montross.

“We’re so far behind,” said Heitshusen.

“I think it would be good for each [department] to give their presentation [to supervisors],” Maas said. Janet Behrens represents the county treasurer on the Compensation Board; Cindy Ballard, the county recorder; Gary Boland and Mark Swift, supervisors; Jim Claypool, the county attorney; and Robinson, the sheriff.

Iowa County Treasurer Michelle Sims said she compared treasurers’ salaries in the five consecutive counties larger than Iowa County and the five consecutive counties smaller than Iowa County. “Pay-wise we went backward,” said Sims.

Iowa County gave 6% raises, but other counties gave more, Sims said. The Iowa County Treasurer was 58th in the state in salary last year, but 60th this year.

But not all offices do the same things in all counties, said Heitshusen. It’s hard to compare them accurately.

“We aren’t Johnson County,” Sims admitted, but her office serves many Johnson County residents.

Recorder Sherry Pope said that people come to the smaller counties for services because they don’t want to wait in long lines in larger counties and the clerks aren’t as friendly.

Maas asked Auditor Brandy Enochson, board secretary, to input pay increases at half the rate the Compensation Board recommended into the budget so supervisors can see where the county stands.

“I think the maximum we’ll be able to afford is 5%,” said Maas, and she’s not sure about that.

“We need to put a number in to get an idea where we’re at,” said Heitshusen.

“I want to give everybody a good raise, but at what cost,” said Schumacher. Supervisors took no pay increase last year, he said.

They took only half of what was recommended the year before and only 2% last year, said Maas.