To increase salaries of elected county officials by two percent is a pending motion before the Yellowstone County Elected Officials Compensation Committee, which held its first meeting last Tuesday. They will meet again on June 25 to make a final recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners. County Commissioners will take up the committee’s recommendation during their regular board meeting on July 2.
Much of the committee’s meeting was dominated by a discussion about whether to add another public representative to the committee. State law requires that at least two of the committee members be at-large citizen representatives. That often fails to be the case if one of the two members is absent. Since the committee is allowed to increase the number of citizen representatives, they concluded that to add an additional member would be beneficial. Anyone interested in serving on the committee is urged to make application through the county commissioners’ office. The committee hopes to select a new member at their next meeting.
Billie Ruff and Oscar Heinrich currently serve as citizen representatives on the committee which is headed, by state law, by County Attorney Scott Twito. Other members included elected officials, County Commissioners Denis Pitman, John Ostlund, and Don Jones, Sheriff Mike Linder, Clerk and Recorder Jeff Martin, Auditor Scott Turner and Country Treasurer Sheri Long.
The 2 percent proposed salary increase would add about $1,429 to the current base salary of $71,464.37. Director of Finance Kevan Bryan explained the impact of the proposed increase, as well as of alternative proposals of adding 1.5 percent or 2.5 percent. Bryan noted that the rate of inflation over the past year was 1.9 percent.
Because of longevity, stipends and other supplemental payments, the impact of the two percent increase varies for each official. The percentage of increased income ranges from 2 percent for Clerk & Recorder Martin to 8.25 percent for County Commissioner Don Jones.
With the 2 percent increase the base salary received by each elected office holder would be $73,250.99, plus longevity which could be $4,654 for the ensuing year plus accumulated longevity which varies by how many years, up to five years, the official has held office, plus any statutorily required increases and stipends. Total salaries would range from $72,900 to $104,000.
Calculated into salary increases is a longevity increase of $4,632.27 annually, for the first five years in office. Also, county commissioners and the sheriff are automatically entitled to $2000 increase dictated by state law. The sheriff also receives a statutorily required one percent longevity increase for each year of service.
Clerk and Recorder Jeff Martin also receives a stipend of $7,289.37 for serving as the county surveyor, an office required by state law but which has been reduced to a part-time position in Yellowstone County, overseen by the Clerk and Recorder. Such is also the case with the role of County School Superintendent, which is performed by County Treasurer Long, for which she receives $7,689.37.
The salary of the County Attorney and the Justices of the Peace are tied to the salary of District Court Judges, which are set by the Montana State Legislature. The district court judges’ salaries increase every other year. This year they will increase 3.3 percent to $136,896.
About three years ago the compensation committee decided to set the salaries of the Justices of the Peace to 75 percent of the salary of the district court judges, to incrementally increase to a cap of 80 percent. In the years that the District Court Judges get an increase – such as this year – that will be their salary increase. In the off years, the Justices of the Peace will get an increase of 1.25 percent until they reach the 80 percent cap.
Not including the justices’ salaries and the county attorney, the cost of the 2 percent increase recommendation to the county budget will be $763,060, according to Bryan. A 1.5 percent increase would cost $759,361 and a 2.5 percent increase would cost $766,760.
