Commissioners approve pay raise

POLSON - A continuation of a meeting on elected county officials compensation last Wednesday brought a recommendation from the county compensation board to increase longevity pay for elected officials to two percent, retroactive to 2005, and give a base wage raise of .50-cents per hour. Two commissioners of three need to vote in favor of the recommendation to pass it, but with Chairman Chuck Whitson absent, Commissioners Paddy Trusler and Bill Barron decided to wait on an official vote.

That vote came Tuesday afternoon, with a slight tweak to the recommenda-

tion. Commissioners Barron and Trusler voted to adopt a two percent per year longevity pay, capped at 10 years, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2010, rather than 2005. Years 2005 to 2010 would maintain the one percent longevity pay that was adopted in 2005, the commissioners said. At 10 years of service, an elected official who began in 2010 would make an additional 20 percent of their base pay. The commissioners also voted to adopt the .50-cent per hour base pay raise. Whitson again was absent and did not participate in the vote.

"It took a tremendous amount of wrangling and discussion," Trusler said Tuesday after the decision. "It's not necessarily the best practical decision, but is the politically correct decision."

Before the vote, the decision to make both of those recommendations came after more than an hour of discussion last Wednesday that included elected officials, county employees and citizens concerned with what an increase could mean.

Many of the issues were rehashed from the Aug. 18 meeting, when, constrained by an hour, the commissioners and compensation board decided to table the discussion until tax revenue numbers were more readily available. Trusler said the county has assumed 95 percent of certified tax values, which paved the way for a county-wide pay raise recommendation.

"Each office is allocated .50 cents per employee, retroactive to July 1, and the county will pay the premium on health insurance," Trusler said. "That amounts to $1,300 per employee, including health insurance."

Civilian compensation board member Dennis Lewis said with the budget issue resolved, he felt more comfortable making a decision.

"That was my major concern, whether the revenue could afford it," he said.

With those numbers, issues of longevity pay remained on the table. Barron reiterated his previous stance that longevity deserves compensation.

"I based it on the fact of what I realized when I came into the position," Barron, who has served approximately one year as commissioner, said. "Even though I could do the job, someone like Paddy is obviously worth more to this county with his experience, expertise and history. It's the history that's a huge part of this job."

But Barron said he had stepped back from his previous proposal during the last meeting, which had called for $1,200 per year, capped at eight years. His new proposal called for two percent of base pay per year, retroactive to 2005, capped at 10 years, when longevity would return to one percent per year.

"It's half of what the impact of the original was, and twice of what the current model is," Trusler said, noting he would have received $9,600 with a cap of eight years under the original plan, but $4,600 at eight years under the new proposal.

"Is this a good time?" Barron continued. "There's never a good time when you're giving elected officials raises. This starts the playing field. It starts it and we go from here."

Lake County Sheriff's Office Det. Dan Yonkin, a candidate for public office himself, spoke against the raise, saying that the real compensation comes from serving the public.

"How much is enough?" he asked. "You'll probably never be compensated enough for what you do for this community. No matter how you spin it, you're trying to encourage people to stay longer, but I've never heard of anyone leaving because they couldn't afford it."

Lewis motioned to adopt and recommend Barron's proposal of two percent longevity pay per year, capped at 10 years, to the county commissioners. The motion passed by a 4-1 vote, with lone dissenter Bob Long. County attorney Mitch Young abstained from voting because he has the biggest county salary and said he'd be "the biggest winner" of the proposal.

The next motion, put forth by Barron, would give all elected officials, except for Young, a .50-cent base pay raise as well. The raise would also give all LCSO deputies a raise because their salaries are directly linked to the sheriff's, an issue raised by LCSO Det. Mike Gehl earlier in the meeting.

The motion passed 5-1, with the lone dissenter again Long.