CACHE COUNTY – As usual, an outgoing member of the Cache County Council has stepped forward to advocate for a pay increase for panel members.
At their regular meeting on Oct. 14, that role fell to longtime council member Barbara Y. Tidwell, who announced that she is not planning to seek re-election to the county council in 2026.
That left Tidwell free to urge fellow council members to “give themselves some credit” when considering a proposed hefty pay increase for 2026.
Just as outgoing council member and budget hawk Paul Borup did in December of 2022, Tidwell took the lead in supporting a recommendation from the County Compensation Committee contained in Proposed Ordinance 2025-36 to raise the six council members salaries by $12,000 each and the council chair’s salary by $13,200 staring Jan. 1 of next year.
The proposal is controversial, coming at a time when the Cache County Council is facing an estimated $7.6 million budget shortfall in 2026.
“If we do go ahead with the raise,” Tidwell reminded fellow council members, “it doesn’t mean that we aren’t good public servants. It just means that we’re doing the best we can with what we have available.”
The issue of adequate compensation for council members first arose at their meeting on Sept. 23, when Ordinance 25-31 was discussed. That proposal would have raised compensation for the council chair from $30,000 to $54,000 and for council members from $24,000 to $45,000, according to Amy Adams, the county’s director of Human Resources.
Once again, Adams argued that the proposed pay hike was necessary to keep salary levels for those elective posts competitive and ensure that fully qualified candidates filed to run for local offices.
But the majority of council members balked at the size of the proposed pay hike, with members David Erickson, Keegan Garrity and Nolan Gunnell being the most vocal in their opposition.
Erickson argued that compensation that high has the potential to lessen the idea of council members being servants of the people.
Garrity echoed that sentiment, saying that at a time when the county is facing a budget shortfall, the “optics” of the council members voting themselves a huge pay raise were all wrong.
At the Oct. 14 meeting, Adams returned with proposed Ordinance 2025-36, which lessened the proposed increases to $36,000 for council members and $42,200 for the council chair.
She reminded the council members that they are lowest paid part-time council members or commissioners in Utah and have not received a pay raise since Jan. 1 of 2023.
Tidwell also emphasized that her fellow council members should consider the value of their work and all the time they spend on committees and boards that take them away from responsibilities like families and their jobs.
After some discussion, however, the council members backed away from any decision on their compensation, voting to continue to issue until their next meeting on Oct. 28.