~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
The Greene County compensation board met on Dec. 21 to discuss salary figures for elected officials in the county. The seven-member board then recommends figures to the board of supervisors who can adjust the recommended salaries as they put together a county budget for FY2025.
Each member of the compensation board is appointed by an elected official: Lori Mannel (auditor); Steve Fisher and Terry Johnson (supervisors); Tom Heater (attorney); John McCormick (sheriff); Tim Heisterkamp (treasurer); Adam Pedersen (recorder.) Mannel and Johnson are new to the board.
All members were present for the meeting with Mannel attending by telephone. Several elected officials and other interested parties were also in attendance in the gallery.
The board elected Heisterkamp chair and Tori Gettler acted as secretary for the 30-minute meeting.
Heisterkamp then asked supervisors John Muir and Pete Bardole about the financial state of the county.
“We have had no notifications of concern,” Muir said.
Auditor Billie Jo Hoskins said, “The county is sitting good.”
Heisterkamp asked about a surplus of money and Hoskins estimated there is not any substantial surplus. The unknowns in the budget for the new jail construction were discussed.
The board and gallery discussed general concern in society about expenses and “tough economic times.” The possibility of the consolidation of counties or counties sharing elected officials such as a county attorney was discussed. Greene County was identified as 82 out of 99 Iowa counties for population.
County attorney Thomas Laehn said Sac and Calhoun counties currently share a county attorney. He cautioned against counties hiring a county attorney part-time to save money because a part-time county attorney will have a law practice in addition to official duties which could cause conflict.
Compensation board members agreed county salaries should be somewhere close to the salaries of other counties in order to attract qualified people.
“We also need to keep up with the private sector,” Heisterkamp added.
The board discussed whether salary is a consideration for people thinking of running for elected office and there was general agreement it does play a part.
HeisterKamp noted previous years’ recommendations from the compensation board had tried to bring specific salaries up to standard and he asked the elected officials in the gallery whether their salaries were now in line with other counties.
Sheriff Jack Williams and Laehn said they are satisfied that they are receiving fair compensation. Williams said a 3-4 percent increase would be fair. Laehn said compensation should be “tied to the office, not the person” when recommending increases.
Supervisors Muir and Bardole said, “We ask you to be conservative.”
Pedersen recommended an “even, across the board, percentage-wise,” increase.
The board noted the cost-of-living increase in Social Security for 2024 will be 3.2 percent, after an 8.7 percent increase in 2023.
After discussion, the compensation board agreed on an across-the-board recommendation for a 4 percent increase for all elected officials.
The recommendation will be sent to the Greene County board of supervisors for inclusion in the FY2025 budget planning. When acting on the compensation board’s recommendation, the supervisors can consider their own salary separately but can only decrease it, not increase it. If they change any of the other increases, they must change every one by the same percentage.
