Johnson County Board of Supervisors request 4.5 percent pay raise

IOWA CITY - The Johnson County Board of Supervisors has unanimously requested a 4.5 percent pay increase, a move members say is unprecedented.

The board approved Thursday sending a letter to the Johnson County Compensation Board requesting that supervisor pay be increased to 75 percent of other county administrative elected officials' pay.

If approved, supervisors' annual pay would increase - by 4.5 percent annually over five years - from $56,678 to $70,783 by fiscal 2020. The anticipated annual increase for other elected officials is 3 percent.

Supervisor Pat Harney, who has been on the board for 14 years, said he and other elected officials are 'not in it for the money,” but added that the proposed increase follows several years of the board's reduction or rejection of recommended pay increases by the compensation board.

'We've never, as long as I can remember, specifically asked for any kind of pay raise. To me it's making (the compensation board) a recommendation to where the board feels we should be at,” he said. 'In the past, we refused what they are asking for because we didn't feel the budget could accommodate it.”

That's not to say supervisor pay hasn't increased in the past, but the board has not recommended boosting its pay.

'Historically the compensation board has asked us to define ourselves and explain how we fit, so we finally relented and have done that,” Supervisor Rod Sullivan said, adding that in the past, he has been reluctant to support a pay raise.

'The county is massively impacted by decisions made at the state level, and if the state continues to cut resources, then we will see potential cuts, and if you're sitting here cutting programs, it's hard to give yourself a raise.”

At the end of the proposed five-year increase, which would require annual approval by the board, the board's pay would be 74.1 percent of the anticipated pay for the county treasurer, auditor and recorder.

Supervisors now are paid 68 percent of what the auditor, recorder and treasurer make.

The county's other two elected officials, the sheriff and attorney, make $116,987 and $135,687 a year, respectively.

The compensation board consists of two members appointed to represent the Board of Supervisors and five members to represent the county auditor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff and attorney. Each year the board is tasked with reviewing compensation to comparable officers in the state and making a recommended compensation schedule. The Board of Supervisors has the final say on any changes in elected officials' salaries. The supervisors can approve or reduce a pay raise, but they cannot increase it.