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Salary increases recommended for county’s elected officials

The Marshall County Compensation Board approved a recommendation for increases in county elected officials’ salaries earlier this week.

The comp board meets every year to decide what increase, if any, the Marshall County Treasurer, Auditor and Recorder, Sheriff, Attorney and supervisor positions require.

The treasurer, auditor-recorder and attorney positions got a recommended increase of 5.2 percent. The sheriff’s salary was recommended to increase 7.5 percent and the three county supervisor positions were recommended to increase 3 percent.

“Under the law, we are supposed to look at what private employers pay and what public employers pay for various positions that might be similar to an elected official,” said comp board member and treasurer representative Tom Swartz. “When you look at counties of similar population to Marshall County, our elected officials for those positions, almost every one, are well below what the median salaries were of those 10 other counties.”

The only exception, he said, was the salary for county supervisors, which is about the average for the counties looked at by the comp board.

Compensation board chairman and county attorney representative Tom McCoy agreed that most of the county’s elected officials are underpaid.

“Ultimately, there was some compromise, just because we wanted to see what we thought was fair and we don’t want to throw out too crazy of numbers, even though crazy numbers are what gets us up to the average,” he said. “It gets them closer.”

The comp board’s recommendation will now go to the board of supervisors for final approval. The supervisors passed the comp board’s recommendations last year, but McCoy said that action was an exception to the norm. For many years prior, he said, the supervisors had not gone with the comp board’s recommendation.

Swartz said he hopes the supervisors approve the comp board’s recommendations. McCoy echoed that feeling.

The salary increase recommendations passed on a 4-2 vote at the compensation board meeting. McCoy, Swartz, sheriff representative Mark Braga and auditor-recorder representative Doug Beals voted in favor, while board of supervisors representatives Robert Thomas and Gary McKibben voted against the recommendations.

Despite ultimately disagreeing on the final recommendations, McCoy commended all the members of the compensation board.

“They’re very smart, they’re good citizens, they care about the county, they care about the elected officials,” he said.

By the numbers – Marshall County elected officials’ salaries

The Marshall County Compensation Board has decided on a set of recommended salary increases for county elected officials.

The increases vary depending on the position. The board looked at elected officials’ salaries in 10 counties of similar population and at similar jobs in the private sector to come up with the recommended increases.

• Treasurer: increase of 5.2 percent ($3,121.95); current salary is $60,037.61

• Auditor-Recorder: increase of 5.2 percent ($3,626.42); current salary is $69,738.92

• Sheriff: increase of 7.5 percent ($6,411.23); current salary is $85,483.09

• Attorney: increase of 5.2 percent ($5,334.25); current salary is $102,581.80

• Supervisors: increase of 3 percent ($1,096.33); current salary is $37,424.14

The recommended salary increases total $19,590.18. Compensation board member Tom Swartz said that would only constitute a small fraction of the county’s annual budget of about $25 million.

The supervisors approved the comp board’s salary increase recommendations in 2018, and both Swartz and comp board Chairman Tom McCoy said they hope for another approval for 2019.

Contact Adam Sodders at

(641) 753-6611 or

asodders@timesrepublican.com

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