Pottawattamie County Supervisors Table Action on Salary Recommendations for Elected Officials

(Pottawattamie Co) The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors tabled action on a resolution regarding the Compensation Board’s recommendation for elected officials for FY 2024-2025.

The Compensation Board recommended a 12-percent increase for the County Sheriff and County Attorney and a 10-percent increase for all other County elected officials for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024. The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors had recommended reducing the Compensations Board’s recommended increases to a 4-percent salary increase for the Sheriff and Attorney and a 3.33333-percent salary increase for all other elected officials.

During the public hearing this morning, County Attorney Matt Wilber spoke to the supervisors about the history of the Compensation Board and some concerns he had with how the Supervisors were addressing the Compensation Board’s recommendation. Wilber said all he asks is for the Compensation Board to keep him on pace with his peers around the state and on pace with the cost of living and he said the Compensation Board has done a good job with that.

Wilber provided some data he gathered from the Federal Reserve and ISAC on wage comparisons. Wilber said according to the ISAC data going back to 2016-2017, he has been going backwards compared to his peers.

Wilber also compared data for all other elected officials.

The Supervisors also heard from Treasurer Lea Voss, Recorder Andrew Moats, and Auditor Melvin Houser who all echoed Wilber’s sentiments.

Supervisor Susan Miller noted that during discussion on Supervisor’s salaries they had a split vote of 3-2 on whether to go with the same as what they were recommending for the other elected officials or to take zero and she said two of the Supervisors were adamant about zero.

Following a lengthy discussion, Supervisor Brian Shea made a motion to reduce the Compensation Board’s recommendation 66-percent and do a one-percent increase for the Supervisors.

That motion failed with a vote of 4 to 1. In the end, the Supervisors agreed to table action on the salary recommendations until next week so they can gather more information during their study session.