Comp Board recommends big pay hikes

The Chickasaw County Supervisors met with the Chickasaw County Compensation Board on Monday afternoon to hear the compensation board’s salary recommendations for county officials.
On Nov. 28, the compensation board, consisting of members Roger Hansen, Mike Kennedy, Bill Meyer, Kurt Croell, Brian Quirk and Steve Lynch, unanimously recommended salary increases for all positions. Lynch presented the proposed salaries to the board Monday.
For several years, though Compensation Board members have urged supervisors to increase salaries for elected officials because the county has been falling behind what other counties pay office holders.
The proposed salaries are as follows:
• Supervisors $35,000
• Sheriff $83,000
• Auditor $65,000
• Treasurer $65,000
• Recorder $65,000
• Attorney $107,000
The proposed salaries would represent approximately a 25 percent increase in pay for the supervisors, an approximate 10 percent increase for the position of county attorney, an approximate 7.5 percent increase for the county sheriff, and approximately an 18 percent increase for the county auditor, recorder and treasurer.
The recommended salary numbers are just base salaries, and do not include the additional taxpayer money necessary to fund required employee benefits, such as health insurance and retirement savings.
The supervisors took no action on the proposed salary increases on Monday. The board will discuss the compensation board’s recommendations at future meetings.

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Under state law, if supervisors decide to reduce the proposed increases, they must do so by the same rate for all county offices, although supervisors themselves can turn down the increase in pay without it affecting the other offices.