Compensation Board recommends 1.5% pay hikes for Floyd County officials

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

It took three votes, but the Floyd County Compensation Board ended up recommending 1.5% pay increases across the board for county elected officials in the next fiscal year which will begin July 1.

At its second meeting of the year, held Wednesday afternoon, the board discussed how to decide the pay increases, and whether to reward or penalize according to the perceived performance of individual offices.

Members also discussed whether they should take into consideration the impact that COVID-19 has had on the offices, as well as on other businesses and the economy in general.

Board members are appointed by the individual county officers to represent those offices. The board makes its recommendation to the supervisors, who can accept it or reduce every office by the same percentage. Supervisors cannot increase the pay above the recommendation, but they can reduce their own pay by a greater percentage than the others.

Current Compensation Board members are:

• Kalen Schlader and Cheryl Erb, appointed by the county supervisors.
• Lisa Garden, appointed by the county auditor.
• Troy Jaeger, appointed by the sheriff.
• Veronica Litterer, appointed by the county recorder.
• Danielle Ellingson, appointed by the county attorney.
• Scott Tjaden, appointed by the county treasurer.

Jaeger, who was elected as chairman of the board at its first meeting held Nov. 18, said, “Talking to some of my friends and some colleagues in the industry, most companies are not giving any raises at all this year.”

He said the attitude of many was that employees should consider themselves lucky if they still have jobs.

Schlader, who suggested giving every officer a 1.5% increase, said, “Nobody in the courthouse that I know of missed a paycheck this year, while many of the taxpayers may not make it. You walk out the courthouse doors and walk around and you can probably see six businesses that are on the brink of closing after this year, and a lot of uncertainty.”

He added, “I just cannot recommend anything more than a cost-of-living increase.”

Litterer said the increase for Social Security recipients will be 1.3% this year.

Garden, who proposed giving 3.5% increases to the county attorney, auditor and sheriff, and 2.5% increases to the recorder, supervisors and treasurer, said the Iowa code that the board operates under requires it to look at what comparable jobs in the public and private industries are being paid.

“Even if it’s a pandemic or not, we’re still supposed to compare wages to others in their capacity,” Garden said, noting that the attorney, auditor and sheriff rank lower compared to those offices in other counties than do the other three.

“I keep going back to what we’re supposed to be doing. This is what I did,” she said.

Schlader said that all of the Floyd County elected officials rank higher than the county’s population rank when compared to other Iowa counties.

According to information from the Iowa State Association of Counties, the Floyd County supervisors rank 18th in salary among all the counties in the state in the current fiscal year, the recorder ranks 24th, the treasurer 29th, sheriff 30th, auditor 32nd and attorney 35th. Floyd County ranks 49th in population.

“If you look at our rankings, they’re all in the safe range,” Schlader said of the salaries, adding that this was not the year to try and even out the ranks among the offices.

Jaeger said he thought part of the recommendation should be determined by how the offices are performing, saying that the Treasurer’s Office has been closed since the pandemic began.

“I don’t feel they are fulfilling their obligation to the community,” he said.

Treasurer Frank Rottinghaus has answered similar accusations in the past by saying his office is providing all the services required, either online, by phone or by mail, and if a personal visit is required the office is making appointments.

It is not allowing walk-in traffic, Rottinghaus has said, because his office deals with more members of the public than any other in the courthouse and it would be difficult to maintain safe social distancing if the doors were open.

Garden said, “They’re still getting all that stuff done, they’re just not open,” but added, “It should be open if the rest of the courthouse is open.”

Jaeger said, “It costs the taxpayer more money to do stuff online, because when you pay your taxes you have to pay an additional fee.”

Jaeger made a motion that the board recommend pay increases of 1.3% for all offices except the treasurer, which would get zero pay increase. That motion failed when none of the other board members seconded it.

Litterer then made a motion to recommend 1.3% increases across the board. That motion was seconded, but failed 3 to 4, with Tjaden, Garden, Ellingson and Erb voting no.

Erb suggested reducing Garden’s proposal by a percentage point in each category, and Garden agreed, moving that the board recommend pay increases of 2.5% for the attorney, auditor and sheriff, and 1.5% for the supervisors, recorder and treasurer.

That motion was also seconded, but also failed 3-4, with Jaeger, Tjaden, Schlader and Litterer voting no.

Schlader then again brought up his proposal of 1.5% across the board, and put that into a motion.

“That’s a little above 1.3,” he said. “I’ve always thought we should be across the board unless there was some outstanding reason for having somebody different.”

That motion was also seconded, and passed 4-3, with Jaeger, Erb, Schlader and Litterer voting yes.

The recommendation now goes to the Board of Supervisors, which will make a final decision on officers’ salaries as it figures out the county budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year.