Whitman County elected officials get pay boost

Year over year, elected officials in Whitman County have been cashing in raises decided by a citizen board, and for 2019 several officials can expect a healthy bump.

The Whitman County Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials has approved cost-of-living assessment raises of 2 percent or more each year since 2012. Raises stagnated between 2008 and 2011 during the economic downturn.

But for 2019, each elected official will get a raise between 3 percent and 10 percent.

Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers will see a 10 percent raise next year, bringing his annual salary to $104,280. Since the commission began deciding raises in 2004, the sheriff’s pay has risen by 85 percent. On average, the elected officials have seen raises of about 110 percent from what they were making 14 years ago. That number is skewed slightly, however, given that the county coroner was a part-time position until 2005, accounting for a larger pay raise average.

The county commissioner-appointed salary board of 10 people was established in 2004, and its decisions on raises are required by state law to be added to the budget. County officials have no say one way or the other on their raises, but they do have the option of disbanding the commission.

The citizen commission submitted a letter to County Auditor Eunice Coker that gives the commissioners a 3 percent raise and a 4 percent raise for the prosecutor. Every other official other than the sheriff received a 6 percent bump.

The citizen commission justified the raises, saying it looked at salaries of elected officials in comparable counties like Douglas, Jefferson, Kittitas, Okanogan and Stevens, as well as the Consumer Price Index cost-of-living measurements. New in the assessment this year, the citizen commission considered out-of-pocket medical, dental and vision costs in developing the raises.

Coker said all county employees, excluding part-time and seasonal workers, receive $775 per month for health insurance, which includes medical, dental and vision.

“I’m not sure if they were aware of that,” Coker said.

She said she emailed the citizen commission’s leader, Jean Alexander-Brandt, to determine whether the county’s monthly insurance payment was considered. Alexander-Brandt did not respond to multiple emails and Facebook messages from the Lewiston Tribune seeking comment. Calls to several other citizen commission members went unanswered.

Coker said she thinks the county is relatively flush and has a decent cash reserve to cover the raises. The county commissioners will decide after all budgets from the various departments are submitted whether anything needs to be cut, or if any budget requests are denied. Raises for elected officials can’t be changed unless the citizen commission revisits them, however.

“Whitman County has a decent cash balance and cash reserves,” she said. “We’re part of a little bull market here.”

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.

Whitman County Commissioner Art Swannack said the citizen commission has full authority over how much to raise elected officials’ salaries.

“There’s no commissioner intervention, positive or negative,” Swannack said.

Holm may be contacted at tholm@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2275. Follow him on Twitter @TomHolm4.