Here's why elected Saline County officials won't see an increase in pay right now

Elected Saline County officials will continue to receive the same salaries, at least for the time being.

This comes after the commission asked decided to not take action on a resolution to increase elected officials pay this week and instead have a study session at a later date.

Commissioner Monte Shadwick brought up the idea of looking at elected officials pay a few weeks ago, saying that it might lead to more people looking to run for these positions.

What was in the Saline County pay increase resolution?

County administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes brought the resolution to the commission, and it called for a 3% salary increase for the positions of treasurer, county clerk and register of deeds to a base of $95,550.

Smith-Hanes said the positions of county commissioner are 20% of that base $95,550, or $19,110 and the positions of county attorney and sheriff are 160% of that base salary, or $152,880.

As far as the county commissioners are concerned, Smith-Hanes said the number equates to each of the five commissioners being one-fifth of an elected official's base salary, or about a 2% increase for each commissioner.

On the thought of giving himself a pay raise, Commissioner Jim Weese said the county commissioners historically have taken the stance of not increasing their own salaries.

"You're not talking a lot dollars there (with the increase), but I think the message we give to the public is important, from my perspective," Weese said.

Weese said he would be in favor of continuing that stance and not increasing commissioners' salaries, a position that Shadwick agreed with.

"I would just assume have the commission's pay stay where it is and have the conversation be focused on being competitive with other counties on the other piece," Shadwick said.

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Elected Saline County officials pay to be discussed later

Joe Hay, commissioner and chair of the commission, said he was concerned about the impact that all the increases would have to the county's budget.

"That's another $40,000 worth of salaries that we're looking at," Hay said. "With the last couple of years, I know all of us has sat up here and seen how tight the budget was and what we've had to cut."

Hay said even though the salary increases wouldn't take effect until 2025, this move would be too soon, and suggested looking at the topic some time down the line, ideally after the current election cycle.

In the end, the commission voted to continue the conversation to a study session at a later date.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Here's why elected Saline County officials won't see an increase in pay right now