County commissioners Edna Fund (left) and Gary Stamper discuss economic development at an Oct. 5 meeting.
Lewis County commissioners voted yesterday to approve salary increases for other elected officials in a split vote on Tuesday, with Commissioner Bobby Jackson voting to deny the adjustment, which was recommended by a citizen-led salary commission.
Last month, the issue proved contentious, as county commissioners were legally required to accept their 10 percent raise, but voted 2-1 to deny the same increase to other elected officials. The increase would have been the first cost-of-living adjustment those officials saw since 2014.
Although Commissioner Gary Stamper argued in September that other electeds should see the increase if commissioners did as well, and the increase represented a minute percent of the budget, many contended that the move would be inappropriate in a pandemic-fueled economic crisis.
But after more optimistic budgetary findings, including a recovering sales tax and tourism revenue, Commissioner Edna Fund changed her tune.
“Knowing that we did receive a higher increase in some of our revenue that we did not anticipate … and sales tax is not as bad as I anticipated it to be,” Fund said. “I wanted to look more at the budget before, so I’m satisfied with what we’ve received so far.”
Commissioners voted to implement the salary increases as early as legally possible, which could potentially be retroactive to Oct. 1.
Commissioner Bobby Jackson, who voted against the motion, noted that the prosecuting attorney also receives salary adjustments from the state, and questioned whether the position should be included in the salary commission’s deliberations at all.
