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

On December 28, 1846, Iowa became the 29th state in the Union.  Winneshiek County was founded at the same time—170 years ago.

It's hard to describe how different life was in those days.  Here's a list of inventions that had not been made yet—in fact, they were at least ten years off in the future: toilet paper rolls; ironing boards; Mason jars; electric stoves; escalators; vacuum cleaners; postcards and even breakfast cereal.

But while our daily lives have changed greatly in 170 years, our form of county government is still the same as it was in 1846—five county supervisors and elected Auditor, Treasurer, Recorder, Sheriff and Attorney.

This year, base salaries for those ten people totaled $462,114.  That doesn't include the cost of health insurance or other benefits.

But for those who are questioning the six percent pay raises for those ten people recommended by the County Compensation Board, here's a discouraging figure—reducing the pay raises by one percent would save a total of only $4,621.  In a budget of $24.4 million for 2015-2016, that's not going to bring much property tax relief.

There is one step that could be taken that would bring much greater savings—switching to a form of government based on the City of Decorah's organization, with a County Administrator heading a hired staff and a governing board of seven volunteers who set policy, but do not engage in much day-to-day operations.

Such a change would save $100,000 to $200,000—but would be politically unpopular.  That's because government courthouses are valued not just for the services they provide, but for the jobs they create.  It would be more efficient to reduce the number of elected officials in Winneshiek County government—but would it be more popular?  Or is it better to stick with the form of government that has been used since before the invention of the toilet paper roll?