Up to 3 percent pay increase approved for Linn County managers

The old guard on the Board of Supervisors flexed its majority muscle, and pounded home a measure that instructs county department leaders to budget for up to a three percent pay increase for about 140 Linn County managers.

The guidelines that will govern the county's budget were passed 3-2, with Supervisors Linda Langston, Lu Barron and Jim Houser voting aye, and Brent Oleson and Ben Rogers dissenting.

Budgets are due to the supervisors Dec. 18, will be reviewed through the first part of 2010 and finalized in March.

Oleson, who has been advocating for "zero-based budgeting," called the three percent guideline an "auto-pilot budget increase." He wanted the supervisors to force county departments to start their budgets at zero and justify all their expenses by connecting what they do to their department's original charter and mission statement.

Langston said "zero-based budgeting" could be useful in the future, but there isn't time before Dec. 18 for the county to do it properly.

"I just don't think we're prepared at this moment in time," she said, adding that it has already been difficult to get some department heads to turn in their budgets on time.

Instead of radical budget changes, Human Resources will do a better job of helping managers do job performance reviews, Langston said. Pay raises for managers will be "merit-based," and the supervisors will work harder to make sure all expenditures are tied to the county's strategic goals.

Oleson was unimpressed. He compared pay based on performance reviews to naming 40 class valedictorians. Used to be only one person was exceptional, he said, now everyone is.

"The managers are going to say 'Everybody did great!'" he said.

He said he doesn't want to have to explain to people who are getting laid off, furloughed, or having their pay frozen, that the county is increasing manager salaries by three percent for no clear reason.

Langston said county employees have taken a hit too, seeing a 30 percent increase in health care costs.

"Like everyone else in the world, they are taking a significant amount of erosion," she said. "I have a goal of maintaining our employees."

Add in the set-in-stone 3.5 percent pay increase for rank-and-file county workers in the union bargaining unit, and wages and benefits will increase by about $1 million at the county for the next fiscal year.

The supervisors also approved an operational budget target of 0 percent growth. Wages and benefits account for $57 million each year, more than half of Linn County's budget.