Action deferred, but big Linn salary hikes unlikely

CEDAR RAPIDS - They'll get a raise, but Linn County's sheriff and prosecutor won't receive the double-digit salary increases recommended by an advisory board.

“I'll tell you right now that's not going to be approved,” said Supervisor Brent Oleson, the board's chairman. “It's my belief the board will substantially reduce the proposal, we just don't know how.”

Supervisors postponed action Monday on the county compensation commission's salary recommendation for the fiscal year starting July 1. The commission had recommended a 4.5 percent increase for all elected officials except Sheriff Brian Gardner and County Attorney Jerry VanderSanden. They would each have received a $10,000 bonus on top of a 4 percent raise - which would work out to effective pay increases of 12.7 percent for Gardner and 11.1 percent for VanderSanden.

VanderSanden had requested a 4 percent raise. Gardner didn't formally request a raise but did submit a survey showing that, while he's the second-highest-paid sheriff in the state, he's 16th when compared to the heads of similar-sized state law enforcement agencies.

The commission recommendation has implications beyond just the department heads, because state law ties the salaries of specified deputies and assistants to their bosses' pay. Gardner's recommended 12.7 percent raise would also apply to 10 members of the sheriff's staff, for a total of $132,535 in additional salary costs over the current fiscal year.

Two assistant county attorneys also would receive VanderSanden's recommended 11.1 percent raise. Adopting the compensation commission's recommendation would cost $239,907 total - about $174,000 more than the 2.3 percent across-the-board increase supervisors had penciled in for their budget-writing process.

Oleson said the raises likely will exceed 2.3 percent, but not by the recommended amount. He said he expects supervisors to address the salary issue by early February.

State law allows supervisors to reduce recommended salaries by a uniform rate. Oleson said the recommendation's inclusion of a bonus may give supervisors some added flexibility.

“It's my interpretation we could reduce the cash, or the percentage, and do that differently,” he said.

Funding for raises would come from money set aside for “offers” in the supervisors' budget-writing process. Under the “budget for outcomes” process adopted last year, county department heads must meet a target figure for their operating budgets, then make offers to supervisors for any added funding for new programs or services.

Supervisors are allowing 2.3 percent growth for salaries and no change in operating budgets for the budget now under construction. They approved $1.9 million in offers last year but haven't set a figure for the fiscal 2013 budget.