While excluding themselves from additional compensation, the members of the Cache County Council have approved resolutions granting end-of-year bonuses for full- and part-time county employees and cost-of-living adjustments for elected officials in 2024.
CACHE COUNTY – During their regular meeting on Nov. 28, the members of the Cache County Council voted unanimously to grant end-of-year bonuses to full-time and part-time employees of the county.
Under Resolution 2023-24, the county council approved bonuses in the amount of $379 for full-time employees and $189 for part-time employees, subject to regular taxes and withholding.
Prior to that vote, the council members ensured that elected officials — including themselves — were not included in the bonus package.
The council members were even less generous to themselves when it came to approving cost of living adjustments for the salaries of elected officials for the calendar year 2024.
While granting approval of cost-of-living adjustments averaging about 6 percent to the salaries of seven elected officials, the council members first amended Resolution 2023-39 to hold their own salaries to 2023 levels without any cost-of-living adjustments.
The always budget-conscious and cautious council member Karl B. Ward recommended that amendment, noting that the county is facing a budget deficit in 2024. Council member Nolan P. Gunnell agreed.
In discussions that followed, vice chair Barbara Y. Tidwell warned that holding council members salaries to 2023 levels could make it hard for the county to get qualified people to run for those positions in the future.
In terms of dollars and cents, council members were being asked to forego a salary increase of $1,440 in 2024, a jump from $24,000 to $25,440 recommended by the county’s compensation committee. Ward’s motion also meant that Council Chair David L. Erickson would give up a $1,800 pay bump, with his proposed salary increasing from $30,000 to $31,800.
Council member Kathryn A. Beus argued that, while cost-of-living adjustments are modest and largely symbolic, they are preferable to large salary increases very few years to keep council members’ compensation competitive with other counties and the private sector.
Despite those misgivings, Resolution 2023-39 as amended was eventually passed unanimously.
That resolution was also amended to especially benefit the county attorney. The 6 percent cost- of-living adjustment would have increased that position’s salary from $158,185 to $167,676 in 2024. But the council members approved an amendment making the county attorney salary’s $200,280 to address compensation inequities in that office.
Under Resolution 2023-39, other pay increases for elected officials will be a jump from $130,225 to $138,042 for the county executive; from $116,075 to $123,027 for the county assessor; from $105,806 to $112,157 for the county clerk/auditor; from $100,483 to $106,513 for the county recorder; from $122,732 to $130,104 for the county sheriff; and from $100,505 to $106,535 for the county treasurer.
Those approved pay increases will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.