How does Marshall County stack up to similar counties?
By KEN BLACK, TIMES-REPUBLICANArticle Photos
A survey of selected department heads salaries in several Iowa counties shows that Marshall County is squarely in the middle of the pack, both in terms of total dollars and in terms of most individual salaries.
The Times-Republican looked at the salaries of supervisors, sheriff, county attorney, auditor, engineer and recorder. The positions were chosen because they are high-profile positions and likely to have very similar counterparts in other counties.
In total among these positions, Marshalltown spends $363,000. That is very close to Muscatine, which spends $365,000 for those positions. Wapello County spends $335,000. Warren County spends $396,000 and Jasper County expenses $423,000 for salaries in those positions collectively.
These counties were chosen because they are all similar in size to Marshall County. However, the issues facing each county may be slightly different. For example, the northern part of Warren County has a more suburban atmosphere as part of the Des Moines metropolitan area.
Polk County was also asked to provide their salary numbers for these selected positions, but failed to respond before press time.
Supervisor Chair Gordie Johnson said he believes the reason for Marshall County's position in the middle is due mainly to the compensation board, which recommends salaries for elected positions. Of all the positions in the survey, only the county engineer is a non-elected position.
"The compensation board certainly looks at that and we see the stats justifying their recommendations," Johnson said. "They come up with those stats usually by looking, in part, at what other counties are doing."
Because of that work by the compensation board, Johnson said he was not surprised to learn Marshall County was in line with other counties of similarly-sized populations.
Being competitive in those positions is important, according to Johnson. While it does not happen so much with elected positions, those serving in non-elected positions often may feel compelled to switch to a different job if the salary and benefits package is advantageous for them.
Johnson noted a department leader has left employment with the county in the past because a better-paying position opened in another county.
Overall, Johnson said it may be a more revealing study to compare the salaries of those in Marshall County to the salaries of similar positions within the city of Marshalltown. He noted the county gets great value out of its employees.
"We have the best department heads in the entire state - bar none," Johnson said. "I'd put them up against anybody."
He noted that is demonstrated by the fact that the sheriff has been head of the National Sheriff's Association, the county engineer has led a national association for county engineers and an assistant county auditor was chosen to represent all American cities with less than 150,000 in population for election-related issues.
"Whenever there is a workshop on county issues in the state, our people are usually the ones teaching there," Johnson added.
---
Contact Ken Black at 641-753-6611 or kblack@timesrepublican.com
