The Carroll County Compensation Board took less than an hour last night (Tuesday) to approve a flat 3.2 percent salary increase for all elected officials within the county. The board consists of seven members: one for each elected office and two for the board of supervisors. Mike Franey, who represents the Recorder, was chosen as board chair. The Treasurer’s representative, Chris Whitaker, was selected as vice chair, and the Auditor’s representative, Diane Janning, was chosen to serve as board secretary. Whitaker says it is important for the public to understand the compensation board’s role.
Compensation board members then reviewed multiple factors that will weigh into their considerations, including the 3.2 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) announced by the Social Security Administration, health insurance increases, each office’s responsibilities, duties executed beyond those defined in the code, and so on. One issue that has appeared in previous years is compensation for the County Auditor for that position’s work on the county’s annual budget. District 3 Supervisor Gene Meiners also expressed his support for some form of stipend. A motion from John Brockelsby, a board of supervisors representative, to institute a one-time, one-year payment of $3,500 for this work passed on a 5-1 vote. Board members discussed trying to level out discrepancies that have appeared between offices over the years, which Whitaker describes as a challenging task.
That is not the way the discussion went, however. A short time later, Brockelsby moved to apply a flat 3.2 percent increase for all offices, which passed on a 4-2 vote, with Whitaker and Katie Lahr, the sheriff’s representative, voting no. The compensation board will present their recommendations to the supervisors during their meeting on Monday, Dec. 4. The board can either accept the recommendation, reject it, or adjust the percentage evenly for all positions. Video of the meeting is included with this story online.
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