Iowa lawmakers seek to abolish county compensation boards

DES MOINES - A bill making its way through the Iowa Statehouse calls to abolish the use of compensation boards and force county supervisors to recommend and vote directly on their own raises.

County officials currently appoint a compensation board to determine and ultimately recommend wage adjustments to elected seats - supervisors, auditor, recorder, treasurer, sheriff and county attorney. The Board of Supervisors then approves, reduces or rejects the compensation board's recommendation.

Rep. Megan Jones, R–Sioux Rapids, said compensation boards - whose members are selected by the elected officials they represent - have led to 'exorbitant raises” in local government.

'We are hearing from far too many Iowans that are concerned about the increases,” Jones said. 'These raises are out of control.”

Lucas Beenken, a public policy specialist with the Iowa Association of Counties, said compensation boards are intended to calculate in other county rates, public and private sectors, and other outside factors to determine wage recommendations.

'We believe the compensation board provides the necessary checks and balances for the interests of not only the public and taxpayers, but the county employees and the county itself,” Beenken said.

Jones and Rep. Jake Highfill, R–Johnston, voted to move the bill to the full House Local Government Committee.

But Rep. Mary Gaskill, D–Ottumwa, a former county auditor, defended the current system.

'This gives the public an opportunity to see what their officers are making,” Gaskill said.

Each Iowa county has a seven-member county compensation board, which has two members appointed by the Board of Supervisors and one each named by the county attorney, auditor, recorder, sheriff and treasurer.

Supervisors ultimately vote on the compensation board recommendation while finalizing the budget in the coming weeks. But pay rates for elected officials cannot increase beyond the recommendation - they only can be accepted, reduced or rejected.

'Getting rid of that body in an effort to keep wages minimal is not the way to do it because you're getting rid of one of the checks and balances of the whole process,” Beenken of the Iowa Association of Counties said. 'I guess it's a little bit troubling that the state wants to mess with that when we as an organization and our members don't see it as a problem and support the current system.”

But Rep. Jones said that system allows elected officials the ability to appoint allies to the compensation board to ensure that raises are recommended. Then, when wage increases are approved, county supervisors can claim the increase was recommended by the compensation board.

Eliminating the compensation board increases supervisor accountability, she said.

'They put all the decision really in the hands of the compensation board, which is typically people they are friends with,” Jones said. 'If they're going to vote themselves a raise, they need to have the integrity to vote themselves a raise.”

Linn County voters this past November agreed to reduce the size of the five-member Board of Supervisors to three representatives.

Residents pushing for the reduction targeted supervisor wages - the county's supervisors, as well as the county auditor, recorder and treasurer, all make the same six-figure salary - and argued a smaller board would save money. Each of those officials earn $103,888 this year.

The Linn County compensation board's next annual meeting will be at 4 p.m., this Thursday, Jan. 26, at the Jean Oxley Public Service Center, 935 Second St. SW, Cedar Rapids.

l Comments: (319) 339-3175; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com