The Greene County compensation board is recommending wage increases ranging from 2.96 percent to 8.6 percent for county elected officials.
The board met Wednesday morning for about 30 minutes. In recent years the board has recommended an across the board percentage increase in salaries. The recommendation for the coming fiscal year isn’t a percentage, but a different dollar amount for each official. Those amounts vary from 2.96 percent for newly-elected treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen to 8.6 percent for auditor Jane Heun.
Steve Haupert was appointed to the compensation board by sheriff Jack Williams. He proposed a 3 percent increase to keep the sheriff’s salary near the norm for counties of a size similar to Greene.
Tom Heater was appointed by county attorney Thomas Laehn. He proposed increasing the attorney’s salary to $99,000 to keep it line with salaries in Union, Decatur and Sac counties.
Former county supervisor Guy Richardson was appointed to the compensation board to represent the county auditor, but he interjected on proposals regarding other salaries. He said that while he was a supervisor the county paid outside attorneys as much as $40,000 a year to do civil and business work, He said the county can easily afford to pay Laehn more because he does that work along with prosecuting crimes.
When Richardson spoke about the auditor’s salary, he said that during his years as supervisor there was discussion about the varying amounts of responsibility in each of the county offices. He said the discussions were based on responsibilities being equal. “My argument has always been that the offices aren’t necessarily equal,” he said, and went on to tell why he thinks the auditor has more responsibility than some other elected officials.
“All of them are very, very important in what they do, but their jobs are different. The amount of time they take is completely different and those responsibilities are different. I’ve always argued we didn’t need to worry about if it’s the exact same dollar amount we’re paying the various elected officials,” Richardson said.
He said that auditor Heun is a CPA, and “that’s considerable more training for that position than other positions have…. In my opinion Jane has been underpaid for a very long time.”
Jody Paup advocated for a 4 percent raise for the county recorder, noting that Marcia Tasler is the third-longest serving auditor in the state and that she plays an important function, particularly in real estate transactions.
Tim Heiskerkamp is new to the compensation board. He was appointed by treasurer Mechaelsen. He reported she requested no increase in salary because she’s new to the job and still learning. Heisterkamp suggested she should have a cost of living adjustment. He also said he wants to be sure deputy treasurer Denise Stofer gets a raise. (By Iowa Code, the deputy, who is appointed rather than elected, is paid 85 percent of the elected official’s salary.)
Mary Jane Fields spoke for the county supervisors. She said they should have more than a 3 percent increase and suggested an increase of $1,000 each. (A $1,000 increase is 3.5 percent of their current salary.)
She said the past year has been a hard year for the supervisors and the coming year promises to be hard as well.
Jim Unger was also appointed to speak for the supervisors. He was not present.
Richardson mentioned he and Fields had talked about salary increases yesterday. He was prepared with a motion recommending dollar increases rather than percentage increases. He motion was to increase salaries for FY2020 as follows: treasurer, $1,700, from $57,457 to $59,157; auditor, $5,000, from $57,981 to $62,981; recorder, $3,000, from $56,915 to $59,915; sheriff, $3,000, from $74,913 to $77,913; attorney, $6,800, from $92,660 to $99,460; and supervisors, $1,000 each, from $27,803 to $28,803.
Fields amended the motion to add another $500 to the recorder’s salary. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
If the supervisors approve the recommendation, percentage increases would be: treasurer, 2.96 percent; auditor, 8.62 percent; recorder, 6.15 percent; sheriff, 4 percent; attorney, 7.34 percent; and supervisors, 3.6 percent.
This is the first year in several that the compensation board has not mentioned the financial condition of the county or how the total taxable valuation had changed for the new fiscal year.
The supervisors can lower the increases, but if they do, it must be by the same percentage for each official. If they act in a timely manner they can separate their own salary from consideration.
A year ago they delayed the decision long enough that they couldn’t consider their salary independently of other elected officials’ and they all received a 3 percent increase. In FY 17 and FY 16, other elected officials received 2.5 percent increases and the supervisors took no increase. In FY15 the other elected officials got a 3 percent increase with no increase for the supervisors. In FY14 other elected officials received a 3 percent increase and the supervisors gave themselves a 2 percent increase.
