decorahnews.com analysis: Are Winneshiek County's elected officials getting paid fair salaries?

(decorahnews.com was the first to report on December 10th http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2015/12/12429.html that the County Compensation Board had recommended across-the-board six percent pay raises starting in July of 2016 for ten elected county officials.  Our article sparked a lot of questions for readers.  When we attempted to find the consultant's study the Compensation Board based their decision on, we had a lot of trouble, even though we contacted numerous people--including the consultant.  We would like to publicly thank Compensation Board member Jim Burns, who was the person who finally could provide us with the information used in these stories)

When you ask "Are Winneshiek County elected officials being paid too much or too little?" the next question you have to ask is, "Compared to what?"

A consultant--Paul Greufe--hired by Winneshiek County in 2013 to answer that question gave a couple of possible answers to that question.  First of all, you could compare Winneshiek County salaries to those paid by all 99 counties in Iowa.

But Greufe wondered if it was fair to compare Winneshiek County with Polk County--Iowa's most populous county--or Adams County--Iowa's least populous county.

Since Winneshiek County's population places it 30th among Iowa's 99 counties, Greufe proposed looking at salaries paid by counties that rank 20th through 40th in population.  Counties in this comparison group would then include Buchanan County, which is 29th in population and includes Independence; Bremer County, which is 26th in population and includes Waverly; Buena Vista County, which is 31st in population and includes Storm Lake; Washington County, which is 28th in population and includes Washington; and Fayette County, which is 34th in population and includes Oelwein.

Greufe's 2013 report concluded that elected county supervisors were underpaid by 17 percent, compared with supervisors in similar counties, while the other elected officials were underpaid by 10.5 percent to 14 percent.

His recommendation led to a 5 percent pay increase for all county elected officials in 2014; a 6 percent pay increase for all county elected officials in 2015; and a proposed 6 percent pay increase for all county elected officials for 2016.  Because 2015's and 2016's pay raises were cumulative and raised salaries based on previous pay raises, the overall total effect will be a 17.978 percent pay raise over three years.

Of course, salaries paid by other counties haven't been standing still.  decorahnews.com compared Winneshiek County's salaries for county supervisors in 2015-2016 ($31.294) with those paid by nine very similar counties (an average of $32,722) and discovered Winneshiek County's salaries would still be below the average--even with a 6 percent pay raise.

But county supervisor salaries were the most extreme percentage examples found by Greufe in his 2013 report.  Comparing Winneshiek County's salaries for Auditor, Recorder and Treasurer with those paid by the nine very similar counties shows the Recorder's salary of $54,901 is $2,900 lower than the average of $58,777; the Treasurer's salary of $56,074 is some $3,400 lower than the average of $59,484 and the Auditor's salary of $54,901 is some $6,000 lower than the average of $61,192.

Greufe also took a look at the county's health insurance benefit and concluded someone with single coverage received a benefit of $368.78 a year, where someone with family health insurance coverage--compared with benefits received by elected officials in comparable counties--received $6,164 a year less in benefits than those in the other counties.

In our next report, we'll take a look at the cost of the Winneshiek County Attorney's Office and Winneshiek County Sheriff's Department.