Salary commission recommending yet another raise for county officials

COLFAX - A citizens salary commission approved a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase for all Whitman County elected officials next year, even as the county engages in tense salary negotiations with two union bargaining units.

By state law, salary decisions made by the Whitman County Citizens Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials do not require approval or additional action by the county commissioners to take effect.

The 10-member commission, which is appointed by the county commissioners, was first established in 2004. Since that time, salaries for elected officials have increased by an average of $35,623 per year, or 79 percent.

The latest 2.5 percent increase takes effect Jan. 1.

In a letter to county officials, the commission said the adjustment reflects changes in the Consumer Price Index, as well as cost-of-living increases approved for two of the county's bargaining units.

Sheriff's deputies received a 2 percent increase this year, compared to 1.5 percent for jail staff.

Raises for non-union employees, as well as three other bargaining units covering road department, solid waste and courthouse employees, have not yet been determined.

The imbalance between raises approved for elected officials and some department heads, versus what the average employee can expect, has been a sore point in ongoing negotiations with Teamsters Local 690, which represents the road department and solid waste employees.

"We see elected officials getting 100 percent of what their counterparts in other counties make ... while (Whitman County) tells its employees they deserve less," noted Joe Kuhn, business representative for Local 690, in a recent op-ed in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. "Our demand is for a fair and equitable wage for county employees."

Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker, for one, seems to agree with that sentiment. She's been losing a number of employees - most recently, Elections Supervisor Debbie Hooper - in part because of low salaries.

"We should quit giving the elected officials raises and give the money to the people who do the work," Coker said. "It might be time to disband the salary commission and go back to a more equitable way of deciding salaries."

Before the county commissioners created the salary commission in 2004, they were responsible for setting salaries for all elected officials - and they hadn't give themselves a raise in three years.

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Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.