Comp board recommends 7% increase for county officials

We had the Black the Blue Mandate, we did what we thought we had to do, and ultimately I still think that's what we have to do. We do have to keep the employees happy.”

Janet Hissom, County Compensation Board member

LEE COUNTY - The Lee County Compensation Board has recommended a 7% raise for elected officials in the county and a 3% increase for Lee County Supervisors.

The board didn't make the recommendation without hinting that the county needed to listen more to the recommendations.

"Last year was my first year and I was proud to be asked to do it," said comp board member Janet Hissom.

"And the first word out of the supervisors' mouth was 'You can make all the recommendations you want and we don't have to listen to you.' That really put a sour taste in my mouth," she said.

"We had the Black the Blue Mandate, we did what we thought we had to do, and ultimately I still think that's what we have to do. We do have to keep the employees happy."

Garry Seyb, a Lee County Supervisor, said the county has to keep pace with other counties in elected officials' pay and the Back the Blue law brought the county closer to being equitable in the state, but they needed to keep the momentum going.

Seyb said Lee County is 22nd in population for the state of Iowa, and compared to other elected officials, the vast majority of other counties are paid more.

"Ours should be in the area of  22nd or better. If not, they're not in that sweet spot or average spot. The one that doesn't fit well is the Board of Supervisors," he said.

He said of lot of Lee County's supervisors don't need the salary, but it does inspire others to run.

"I for one, would be happy to have anyone run against me," Seyb said. "I would encourage people to do that and if that inspires them to do that, I'm good with that."

But Supervisor Chuck Holmes, who was in attendance along with Supervisor Ron Fedler and Supervisor-elect Tom Schulz and Seyb, said even if the position was volunteer, he would still serve.

"It makes no difference to me what the compensation is."

Fedler said he's hearing from the public that caution is in order this year after last year's large increases for county officials and staff.

"They tell me they never got the raises they felt we got and would like us to think really hard about them paying taxes to pay us," he said.

"There are people out there that are hurting and I feel for them."

The board gave 10% across the board raises to county officials and staff, and gave close to 40% to Lee County Sheriff Stacy Weber and the administration tied to his salary.

The move was ushered in by the Back the Blue law that made counties consider the salaries of law enforcement heads from proportionate population areas in making county sheriff salary determinations.

That law is still in place, which requires the compensation board to again consider the average wages of comparable cities and county populations.

Richard Fehseke, Sr., representing Lee County Sheriff Stacy Weber in front of the comp board, said Weber's salary currently is $130,907 and the average salary of the cities used in comparison such as Mason City, Cedar Falls, Bettendorf, Marshalltown, and Marion was about $143,000.

Fehseke said Weber wasn't looking for a makeup to that degree, but a 5% increase to just over $137,000. That was adjusted to 7% when the recommendation from the board for other elected officials was set at that level.

The Board of Supervisors has final say in setting the pay increases, but by code they have to make any adjustments equally to all officials. As an example, if supervisors cut the recommended raise for county officials by 50%, all adjustments must be cut 50%.