The county will spend nearly $1 million to give raises and one-time stipends to every county employee and most elected officials next year, in response to a salary study that revealed severe pay discrepancies.
The Johnson County Council on the first day of hearings for the 2021 budget voted to spend $901,000 to give permanent raises to county employees who make under the internal median salary for all county employees with similar jobs, and give every county employee a one-time stipend.
All full-time county employees, even those receiving raises, will get a $750 stipend next year. Prior to Monday’s budget hearing, the council had been considering $500 stipends but chose to raise that to $750 at the request of council member Pete Ketchum.
In lieu of stipends, elected officials — besides the county prosecutor and judges — will get $750 raises. Judges and prosecutors are excluded from the raise because their wages are paid and set by the state, not the county.
The council decided to increase pay for elected officials because several were severely underpaid compared to their peers. Though $750 doesn’t compare to the pay deficit of $21,707 for the surveyor, or $14,526 for the coroner, it is a start, council member James Ison said.
“There was more discrepancy in elected official salaries than any other area. Even just doing (a $750 raise), we will be saving money instead of giving them half of what the external midpoint would be," Ison said. "At some point, we are going to have to tackle elected official salaries. Now just isn’t a good time, I agree. But in years to come, we need to address that issue, otherwise, we are going to be losing qualified candidates.”
The stipends, a one-time expense, are only guaranteed for 2021, but the raises will create an ongoing salary obligation of $503,577 for the county.
Stipends will be given to all county employees who have been employed for at least six months prior to the stipend disbursement next September, the council decided.
The raises are meant to put county employees on par with compensation for similar jobs within Johnson County government, but most will still be underpaid compared to their peers in other counties.
Bringing all employees’ salaries up to the external median would cost the county $1.1 million annually, and another $93,015 for elected officials.
Those additional raises may be far in the future, as the county expects to see budget shortfalls in the coming years.
The county on Monday also received finalized budget numbers from its financial consultant, Mike Reuter, and approved budgets on first reading for the courts, sheriff’s office and several other county departments.
The total budget proposal for 2021 is $38.1 million, a 6% increase from this year’s $35.9 million, due to a change in the income tax disbursement which gives counties 14 months of tax revenue for 2021, but only 10 months for 2022, Reuter said.
As a result, the county can expect to have a surplus of funds next year before a steep drop off in 2022, with hopes of being back to normal by 2023, Reuter said.
Budget hearings will continue this week at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and Friday, to discuss potential cuts and expenditures with department heads.
A second reading and adoption of the budget is set for 10 a.m. Friday.
The hearings are open to the public in-person at the Johnson County West Annex, 86 W. Court St., or via Zoom.
