Salary Commission adopts COLA provision for county officeholders — if budget supports it

Under to new state law, sheriff will become highest-paid county government employee

By Buck Collier, Special Correspondent
Posted 11/24/21

HERMANN — Arguing that elected officials deserve a pay boost to help offset inflation, the Gasconade County Salary Commission Thursday morning unanimously approved a provision that would enable …

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Salary Commission adopts COLA provision for county officeholders — if budget supports it

Under to new state law, sheriff will become highest-paid county government employee

Posted

HERMANN — Arguing that elected officials deserve a pay boost to help offset inflation, the Gasconade County Salary Commission Thursday morning unanimously approved a provision that would enable the County Commission to grant a cost-of-living adjustment — if the operating budget can support it.

The move came during the biennial gathering of the Salary Commission, a panel comprised of all county government elected officials, that considers pay raises for officeholders. While there was no pay increase approved for the officeholders beginning a new term Jan. 1, 2023, there will be raises coming for four officeholders, thanks to a salary increase authorized in November of 2019 by the Salary Commission to keep the county in line with state law regarding the maximum allowable compensation for countywide elected officials.

The increase amounts to $2,000 for the five of the six officeholders beginning a new term Jan. 1, 2021; the sixth, the sheriff, received a $6,000 pay raise. The $2,000 will apply to four of the five countywide officials beginning a new term Jan. 1, 2023.

Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann, cautioned his fellow officeholders from expecting a large cost-of-living  adjustment — even if the budget is healthy enough to support it.

“With inflation what it is, we’ll not be able to catch up,” he said during the Salary Commission session. “There won’t be a 6.5 percent” adjustment, he added. It will be up to the County Commission to decide on the size of the cost-of-living adjustment.

The county taxpayer-funded offices to be decided in the November 2022 General Elections are presiding commissioner, county clerk, collector, treasurer and prosecuting attorney. Also to be decided are the offices of circuit clerk/recorder of deeds and associate Circuit Court judge, both of which are paid by state government.

The $2,000 pay raise will take the salaries of the county clerk, collector and treasurer from $43,000 to $45,000 and the prosecuting attorney from $53,000 to $55,000.

Meanwhile, thanks to a new state law that goes into effect Jan. 1 of next year, the sheriff will displace the prosecuting attorney as the highest-paid county government official. The $6,000 the sheriff received through the 2019 Salary Commission action brought the sheriff’s pay up to $54,000. Under the new state law, the sheriff’s salary will increase by almost $5,000 a year for each of the next five years which will bring the sheriff’s salary to about $79,000. The state law ties the sheriff’s salary to the associate Circuit Court judge’s pay. It calls for the sheriff to receive 55 percent of the judge’s salary of $143,333, or $78,833.

If that state law is upheld, the sheriff’s salary — which will continue to be paid by the county’s taxpayers — will remain tied to the associate judge’s paycheck. However, the sheriff would no longer be a member of the county’s Salary Commission, noted County Clerk Lesa Lietzow.

That state law is being challenged by the state’s County Commission Association.

On a side note, whoever begins a new term as presiding commissioner Jan. 1, 2023, will not receive the $2,000 pay raise. 

That’s because the county’s top administrator automatically received a $2,000 annual raise as a result of the Salary Commission action in November 2019. When the salary panel approved the maximum allowable salary for the associate commissioners (an increase of $2,000), the pay of the presiding commissioner automatically was increased by $2,000 — going from $30,380 to $32,380.

By another state law, presiding commissioner’s pay must be $2,000 larger than the salaries of the two associate commissioners. So when their salaries went from $28,380 to $30,380, the presiding commissioner’s pay was increased to $32,380.

The salaries of the three other county-paid officeholders are $17,000 for coroner; $27,000 for the public administrator; and $45,000 for the assessor.