Attorney: County officeholder pay vote allowed
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A recent 5-3 vote — with two abstentions — by 10 of 11 Nodaway County officeholders to approve a 4 percent salary increase for elected officials has passed legal muster.
When the vote took place Nov. 29, the results were referred to the county’s retained attorney after a question arose regarding how many “yeses” were required for the measure to pass.
The uncertainty had to do with whether a majority was to be defined as a majority of those casting yes or no votes or a majority of officials holding office.
Presiding Commissioner Bill Walker said Friday legal counsel determined that, under the existing state statute, the county could apply either standard.
Officeholders took up the pay-raise proposal while sitting as the statutorily constituted Salary Commission, which under state law is allowed to meet only in odd-numbered years.
The group excludes 4th Circuit judges Roger Prokes and Doug Thomson. Coroner Vince Shelby was absent when the vote was taken.
The pay hike will apply only to officeholders who win election or reelection in Nov. 2018 and Nov. 2020.
County officeholders facing reelection next year include Presiding Commissioner Bill Walker, County Clerk Melinda Patton and Recorder of Deeds Sandy Smail.
Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice is also up for reelection in 2018 but will not be affected since his pay, under state law, is tied to the salaries of associate circuit court judges.
Elected officials slated to run for reelection or leave office at the end of 2020 include North District Commissioner Chris Burns, South District Commissioner Robert Stiens, Public Administrator Diane Thomsen, Collector-Treasurer Marilyn Jenkins, Sheriff Randy Strong, Assessor Rex Wallace and Shelby.
Voting against the officeholder pay increase were Walker, Rice and Stiens. Patton and Burns abstained, setting up the legal question since a majority of the 11 officeholders involved would require six votes, not five.
Explaining his “no” vote, Walker, emphasizing that he couldn’t speak for other officials, said he considered his salary ample.
Rice, who also voted opposed, said he was philosophically against raising salaries for elected officials and added that, if the county had extra money for pay and benefits, he would rather see it used to reduce family health insurance premiums for non-elected county employees.
Stiens said he dislikes the Salary Commission concept in principle and believes officeholders should be content with annual cost-of-living increases set by the County Commission and awarded to all Nodaway employees, whether or not they owe their jobs to voters.
The County Commission has been consistent in awarding cost-of-living raises over the years, doing so in each budget cycle from 2004 to 2017.
The Salary Commission hasn’t voted in favor of an officeholder pay raise since 2003. The other most recent vote, up or down, was in 2005, when a proposed increase failed.
Since then, Stiens said, officeholders have simply agreed to waive the session, which is allowed every two years but not required.
According to figures supplied by Assessor Rex Wallace, total cost of implementing the raises over two years following the 2018 and 2020 general elections comes to slightly more than $20,000.
