Wages for elected county officials and directives for departments for county employee wages were approved at Tuesday’s Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting.

A separate board recommends a maximum salary for the elected officials and then the supervisors can approve or lower those rates. The compensation board recommended a 3% increase, plus varying levels of flat rate adjustments. Speaking of the recommendations, Supervisor Richard Young said, “Well, when the Compensation Board did this to us they strapped our hands, and they knew what they were doing, that’s my opinion. And that’s why I brought to their attention about what they were doing. They’re making us make a very difficult decision on compensation for the elected officials. I do not agree with what they did, and I didn’t agree with it that night, and I still don’t agree with what they did. So now we’re going to have to fix what they did.” With a vote of 3-2, the supervisors approved a 70% reduction to the recommendation for county attorney, sheriff, auditor, treasurer, and recorder. The two nay votes were Young and Stan Stoops.

They approved unanimously a 90% reduction to the recommendation for supervisor.

For departmental wages, the board unanimously approved 2.5% increase, which Young said is the same as the increase approved in contracts for union employees with the county. The increases go into effect with the new fiscal year on July 1.

Elected position – current salary – salary proposed by Compensation Board – approved salary for FY18-19
Attorney – $109,091 – $118,544 – $111,926
Sheriff – $92,110 – $97,963 – $93,865
Auditor – $72,757 – $74,940 – $73,411
Treasurer – $68,018 – $70,574 – $68,784
Recorder – $67,019 – $69,545 – $67,776
Supervisor – $36,394 – $39,031 – $36,657