County Compensation Board recommends 5 percent pay raises for elected officials

Winneshiek County elected officials will get five percent pay raises for 2018-2019 if a recommendation by the County Compensation Board is approved in March by the County Board.

The five percent pay raise recommendation was approved Monday evening on a 5-1 vote, with Board Chair Ron Stoskopf voting "no" because he believes county supervisors should get a lower raise.

Board member Jim Burns, who made the motion, divided the raise into a 3 percent cost of living raise and a two percent merit raise.  Board member Bill Remington agreed that the raise was necessary in order to retain the people who are currently doing a good job in the positions.  Board member Mark Jensen said the pay raises would bring the salaries to just over the median salaries for elected officials in Iowa's 99 counties.

The recommendation means that County Sheriff Dan Marx's salary would go from $79,563 to $83,541; County Attorney Andy Van Der Maaten's salary would increase from $72,225 to $75,836; County Treasurer Wayne Walter's salary would increase from $61,221 to $64,282; County Auditor Ben Steines' salary would increase from $60,751 to $63,789; and County Recorder Teresa Bockman's salary will go from $59,941 to $62,938.

The vote on the proposed salary increases will come as part of the county board's public hearing on the 2018-2019 county budget.