Elected county leaders ase their salary on those of employees.
Boone County officials voted Tuesday to continue using a formula adopted in 1997 to determine their salaries. The formula calls for the salaries of the county’s elected officials to increase accordingly with raises granted by the Boone County Commission to county employees.
The Boone County Salary Commission, which includes all the county’s elected officials except the prosecuting attorney and judges, passed the salary resolution. The salary for the prosecuting attorney is set by state law and is equal to that of an associate circuit judge.
The salary commission was established by state law and was required to meet this year.
“We will have to meet again next year, too,” said Keith Schnarre, presiding commissioner. “If the state laws stay the same, we shouldn’t have any reason to meet again after that.”
Because the county’s pay plan and salary-range adjustments for employees don’t affect the salaries of elected officials, the average raises each group receives are not identical. Officials’ raises are based on the average merit and cost-of-living increases employees receive. This year, for example, increases in county employee salaries averaged 3.3 percent, while the elected officials received raises averaging 1.7 percent. The preliminary budget for fiscal 2006 shows county employees receiving average increases of 4.4 percent and elected officials raises of 3 percent.
Boone County Auditor June Pitchford said the objective of the salary commission is to keep elected officials from receiving raises in years when the county government can’t afford to give employees more money.
“If the county can’t afford raises for the employees, then elected officials should not receive them, either,” Pitchford said.
Northern District Commissioner Skip Elkin was the only member of the salary commission who dissented. He said he was uncomfortable voting for what he called “automatic raises.”
“Our increase is based upon what we give county employees,” Elkin said. “I think we need to separate the two groups and look where we are in regards to our budget.”
Elkin also expressed some fundamental disagreement with the fact that the officials set their own salaries.
“I think it is fundamentally wrong to be able to vote on your own pay increase,” Elkin said. “My suggestion would be to have an independent board or agency that would review and make recommendations on new salaries. I understand there may have been some problems with the legislature doing this in the past, but it did provide the separation that I think is needed.”