The members of the Cache County Council voted themselves a pay raise on Tuesday, while denying salary hikes for four county elected officials.
CACHE COUNTY – After a brief public hearing at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, members of the Cache County Council voted themselves double-digit pay raises while denying salary increases for more than half of the county’s other elected officials.
That vote came after extended discussion of proposed Ordinance 2022-01, in which the County Compensation Committee recommended that all county elected department heads receive the same 7 percent pay increase for 2022 as other county employees.
Members of the compensation committee also recommended a 20 percent pay hike for County Council members and a 31 percent for Council Chair Barbara Y. Tidwell.
Early in the discussion of that proposed ordinance, council member Gina H. Worthen observed that it was “uncomfortable” for council members to be voting on their own pay raises. But most of subsequent discussion focused instead on the issue of pay raises for elected department heads.
Council member Gordon A. Zilles, who has already announced that he will not seek reelection in November, quickly made a motion to approve the recommended pay hikes. Council chair Barbara Y. Tidwell seconded that motion, which was ultimately voted down.
Councilman Nolan P. Gunnell called the 7 percent proposal a “whopper of a pay raise,” given that county employees had previously received a 3 percent salary increase across the board in July of 2021.
Councilman David L. Erickson echoed that opinion. In the interest of keeping county salaries competitive, Erickson suggested that a 7 percent pay raise might be appropriate for elected officials that are professionally qualified for their positions, but not for all elected officials.
In a motion, Erickson identified credentialed elected officials deserving of the 7 percent pay increase as the county attorney, the county assessor and the sheriff. His motion also indicated that 2021 compensation levels should be adequate for other county officials, including the county executive, the clerk/auditor, the county recorder and the county treasurer.
Although Zilles argued that those excluded officials were providing exemplary service to the county and its citizens, Erickson’s motion ultimately passed the council by a 5-to-2 vote.
Voting “yea” were Erickson, Zilles, Gunnell, Tidwell and Worthen. Council vice chair Paul R. Borup and council member Karl B. Ward voted against that motion.
Approval of that motion set compensation levels for council members at $16,000 annually, up from $13,332, a 20 percent increase. The 2022 compensation for the council’s chair will be $20,000 (plus a $1,200 vehicle stipend), up from $15,163, a 31 percent increase.
Annual compensation for County Attorney John Luthy will be $146,467, up from $136,885; compensation for County Assessor Kathleen Howell will be $107,476, up from $100,444; and compensation for Sheriff Chad Jensen will be $113,640, up from $106,205.
Compensation for four other county officials will remain at 2021 levels. They are County Executive David Zook ($120,578), Clerk/Auditor Jess Bradfield ($97,968), County Recorder Devron Anderson ($93,039) and County Treasurer Craig McAllister ($93,060).
Prior to the final vote on compensation levels, Worthen emphasized that the decision to deny pay raises to some elected officials “wasn’t personal.”
The council’s meeting on Tuesday was nearly a replay of their gathering on Dec. 14, 2021.
At that meeting, council members also approved similar salary recommendations from the County Compensation Committee, but excluded 2022 pay raises for the county executive, the clerk/auditor and the county recorder.
That vote by the county council was nullified shortly thereafter on the advice of Luthy because no public hearing had been held on proposed Ordinance 2021-25.
The salary levels approved by the county council on Tuesday will be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2022.