Government Salaries: Marion's Oleson Opposes Huge Pay Hike for Linn County Supervisors

On paper it sounds like pretty big raise, but the context is it came after a pretty huge pay cut.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 today, Feb. 20, for preliminary approval of a pay raise for themselves that will increase salaries for the five members of the board from $74,362 to $92,953 come July 1, which is the start of fiscal 2014. That's a $18,591 or 25 percent raise.

Marion's Brent Oleson opposed saying his salary should remain what it was when he was re-elected in November, according to a report by the Gazette.

Read more:

Salaries: Linn County Elected Officials Could Get 2 Pay Hikes in 6 Months

The board voted to cut their salary back in 2009 as the board expanded from three to five members and the community was still reeling from the 2008 flood. Now, the sentiment of the board is the workload warrants a return to their full compensation.

They've been voluntarily working at 80 percent of full compensation, according to a Linn County spokeswoman. The Supervisors' salaries returns to equal with County Auditor, Recorder and Treasurer.

Still, some in the community spoke out against the increase. Here's from a Gazette report on Feb. 11:

Former state Rep. Renee Schulte of Cedar Rapids and four others told the supervisors at their Monday meeting that the expectation among Linn County voters was that the supervisors would need to be paid less than they had been when the board expanded from three to five members in 2009.

A decision to restore the supervisors’ status and pay to 100-percent time just four years later will have “consequences” in upcoming county elections, Schulte said.

Dennis Orr of Cedar Rapids accused the supervisors of trying “to weasel” the pay increase in, a move he termed “a betrayal to all the residents of Linn County.”

The Supervisors also voted unanimously to cut in half - or a 3 percent raise in fiscal 2014 - the Compensation Board’s annual salary recommendations for Linn County’s elected officials. The Compensation Board makes its presentation to the Board of Supervisors on March 13, at which point the Supervisors will give final approval to 2014 salaries for elected officials.

The effect of cutting the salary increase in half is reduces the salary increases to a 2 percent on July 1 and a 2 percent again on Jan. 1 for a cumulative salary increase of approximately 3 percent for FY14.

The raises apply to the Board of Supervisors, Auditor, Recorder, Treasurer, Sheriff and County Attorney and 23 elected officials’ deputies whose salaries are tied to their respective elected official.

Here's more about the salaries from Linn County:

The salaries for Linn County elected officials were frozen in fiscal years 2010 and 2011. With today’s action on the Compensation Board’s recommendations, raises for the Board of Supervisors, Auditor, Recorder and Treasurer have averaged 1.8 percent over the last five fiscal years. Raises for the Sheriff have averaged 2.9 percent and the County Attorney has averaged 2.7 percent in the same time period.

 

Linn County’s property tax rate will not increase in FY14. It will remain unchanged at $6.11 and the rural levy will remain unchanged at $9.82. The Board of Supervisors will certify the fiscal year 2014 budget on March 13 and it will take effect July 1, 2013.