The salaries for Lee County’s elected leaders could increase on July 1, 2014.
The Lee County Compensation Board is recommending raises for the county attorney, auditor, recorder, sheriff and treasurer as well as the five supervisors.
They range from roughly 3% ($780) for each supervisor to nearly 7.6% ($5,500) for Sheriff Jim Sholl.
The Board of Supervisors received the recommendation, this week, without taking action.
Chairman Ernie Schiller says the supervisors must consider this proposal because they have reduced or rejected past salary recommendations from the compensation board.
"We have fallen behind in years past," says Schiller. "I would suggest that they did a wonderful job of trying to get individual departments up to the average that they should be."
Schiller says the supervisors will make a decision on the raises in the coming weeks, during budget discussions
BUDGET PRIORITIES
Meanwhile, when budget talks begin next week, Schiller says finding new homes for two departments must be part of those discussions.
He says the health department and the conservation department outgrew their current locations years ago.
"Both of these need to be addressed," says Schiller. "They haven't been addressed in the past, they haven't been addressed in the past, they haven't been addressed in the past (so) they need to be addressed in the future."
The two departments tried to address their lack of space by proposing a shared facility, but it failed to gain enough support to proceed.
A committee is now developing a plan for a new health department building near the Lee County Jail. A similar group could be formed to work with the conservation department.
Schiller says the supervisors will tour both locations as they work on next year’s budget.
