Johnson County officials could receive 2 percent pay increase

Johnson County elected officials would receive 2 percent pay raises next fiscal year under a recommendation made Tuesday by the county's compensation board.

The proposal applies to the salaries of the five supervisors and the county's attorney, auditor, recorder, sheriff and treasurer starting July 1. The wages of some of the elected officials' deputies are tied to those of their bosses.

The supervisors have the final say on the salaries and will make a decision in the coming weeks as they wrap up work on the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. By law, they can only accept the recommendation as is or decrease it.

Last year the compensation board recommended a 3 percent raise for elected officials, which the Board of Supervisors let stand.

On Tuesday, the compensation board split 4-2 on the 2 percent increase, with Carol Fethke and Hyman Joseph casting the dissenting votes.

Fethke said a lot Johnson County residents are going without pay raises during the economic downturn.

“I don't think we should be afraid to say this is a year when it makes good economic sense” to compare elected officials with other local workers, she said.

Board member David Steen said that state law says the panel's job is to align Johnson's official's pay with those in comparable positions, and it's the supervisors' job to decide how the salary recommendation fits in the county's budget.

“If the Board of Supervisors wants to go to zero, they can do that,” he said.

No elected official spoke at the meeting about salaries. Elected officials appoint the members of the compensation board.

The county's union employees are in line to get raises between 2.75 percent and 2.8 percent next fiscal year.