T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Marshall County Compensation Board Member Mark Eaton, who represents the sheriff’s office on the board, addresses the Board of Supervisors during Wednesday morning’s meeting. The Supervisors ultimately approved a 10 percent pay raise for Sheriff Joel Phillips, six percent for County Attorney Jordan Gaffney, County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson and County Treasurer Deann Tomlinson, and three percent for themselves.

Despite initially seeming to favor a reduced pay increase from what the Marshall County Compensation Board had recommended after its December gathering, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors ultimately decided to honor the compensation board’s full recommendation with one notable exception — their own pay rate, which they opted to raise by a lower percentage.

The compensation board, which includes representatives for the sheriff, the county attorney, the auditor/recorder, the county treasurer and two representatives for the board of supervisors, recommended a 10 percent bump for the sheriff and six percent for all other elected officials during the aforementioned December meeting. Mark Eaton, who serves as the sheriff’s representative on the board, has consistently advocated for a higher raise for Sheriff Joel Phillips to keep the county in compliance with the state’s new “Back the Blue” law stipulating that sheriff’s salaries shall be set at comparable levels to city police chiefs in similar sized communities along with administrators and command officers with the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Currently, Phillips, who received a 20 percent pay increase last year, makes $120,701.45 annually, while State Patrol Major David Halverson — who is assigned to Marshall County — and Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper both make close to $145,000 annually. Eaton stepped forward to the speaking podium and referenced an earlier presentation from Iowa Department of Corrections officials and comments from both Tupper and Sen. Chuck Grassley to highlight the drug and cartel problems in the community and the county.

He went on to explain the new law and how Marshall County measures up in sheriff’s pay to similarly sized cities and counties.

“We sit basically right in the middle, a little higher than middle, population wise, but our sheriff’s office is compensated at number nine of the 10,” Eaton said.

He added that to truly get to where the county needed to be a year ago, it would have required a 32 percent increase as Phillips, at the time, was making just over $100,000 while Tupper and Halverson were making around $132,000, but the compensation board knew it would place a financial burden on the county and negotiated it down from there.

Eaton said the definition of comparables was a bit muddy, but it was the compensation board’s — and the supervisors’ — job to interpret it the best they could.

“I think we need to honor last year’s agreement, and the comp board has done their job to say ‘Well, let’s see if we can tighten that up,'” he said. “Now I’m looking at it long term and I’m saying ‘You know, if we do this one more step, we’re gonna be at par and the future years will be leveled out.'”

Citing the fact that a slightly less populated county, Jasper, pays its sheriff $139,000, Eaton urged the supervisors to honor the previous negotiation and make one more jump to get the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office on a level playing field. Supervisor Steve Salasek said he would like to see the supervisors take a smaller pay increase, and Eaton and Supervisor Carol Hibbs then discussed the issue of salary compression between union and non-union employees, which they feared could discourage internal promotions.

Eaton also likened the county auditor/recorder position to the job of the Marshalltown city administrator and noted that Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson makes about half of what city administrators have been paid recently. In response to another comment about the tax levy being raised, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jarret Heil said the county is actually reducing its levy by almost four percent due to 6.68 percent growth while the total amount of taxes collected will still go up about two percent.

“With that growth, again, I think we have the room to do these compensation packages and get to par and change the dynamic of the Comp Board going forward, so we have a lot of wins in what the Comp Board has worked and negotiated to give to you as a package,” Eaton said. “None of us want our levies to go up. We all want growth to do that work for us, and we have to be competitive in all those positions.”

Heil commended the Comp Board, which is comprised entirely of volunteers, for its work each year and, referencing talks at the state legislature to eliminate them, said Marshall County’s board worked well and could find “a happy medium.” Benson then presented how much of a budget impact some of the proposals would have. The supervisors can reduce the Comp Board’s recommendation, but they cannot go beyond it.

Salasek initially motioned to raise the sheriff’s pay by six percent and the rest of the elected officials by 3.6 percent, which would cost the county $21,904.53 in total. Hibbs noted that they were making progress, but ultimately, it would take time to get where they needed to be.

“I think this is progress,” Hibbs said.

Heil then asked what would happen if they took the given recommendation from the Comp Board and separated the supervisors out to only give themselves a three percent raise. Benson said the cost of that proposal would be $33,832, and Heil then said he felt it was the right course of action as the county had the money to make it happen. Eaton added that within the city of Marshalltown, there were 10 more houses coming online valued at between $300,000 and $400,000, which would in turn increase tax revenue.

The supervisors, by a 2-1 vote, rejected Salasek’s initial motion with Heil and Salasek opposed and Hibbs in favor, and a subsequent motion to approve a 10 percent raise for the sheriff, six percent for the county attorney, county auditor/recorder and county treasurer and three percent for the board of supervisors passed by a unanimous vote.

The pay rates for each official will now be adjusted as follows.

County Attorney — $138,435.72

County Sheriff — $132,771.59

County Auditor/Recorder — $94,113.75

County Treasurer — $81,021.68

County Supervisors — $45,935.03

During the public comment period before adjournment, Benson reminded the audience that absentee voting for the upcoming special election on March 5 began Wednesday and will be held in her office on the third floor. Eaton also commended the board for managing the county’s money and lowering the overall tax levy.

“I think you guys are doing a good job,” he said.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Heard a presentation from Mike Dalbec, Alfredo Rodriguez and Julie Brandt of the Iowa Department of Corrections 2nd Judicial District.

• Passed a resolution approving homestead and family farm tax credits and military service tax exemptions.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.