Commissioners Hike Row Office Salaries for 2016-2019
8.75 Percent over Four Years
LOCK HAVEN — The Clinton County commissioners, at a special Monday evening meeting, gave approval to a new pay scale for county row officers and the commissioners, timed to coincide with the next term of those positions beginning in 2016.
The hikes amount to 2.5 percent in 2016, 2.25 percent in 2017 and 2 percent each in 2018 and 2019 or 8.75 percent in all. They will apply to the commissioners elected in 2015, along with the row offices of county prothonotary, register and recorder, sheriff and auditors; also to county treasurer Michelle Kunes and coroner Zach Hanna, both of whom were elected to four-year terms in 2013.
Board chairman Pete Smeltz said county chief clerk Amy Dicello had prepared the numbers “as a starting point for discussion.” As it turned out, all three commissioners opted for those numbers.
There was little public discussion at the meeting which had received little advance notice. Other than several row officers and the media, only two members of the public attended and only one, Richard Morris of Lock Haven commented. Among other things, Morris raised some concerns about the county’s policy of keeping several different row offices at the same increased pay level each year.
The commissioners lauded the work of the current row officers. Commissioner Joel Long said the hikes “were not about us (the commissioners)” but served as an incentive to get good people to run for office; Jeff Snyder said the row officers “work hard” as fulltime officials.
Smeltz echoed that theme, stating the commissioners see “how hard” the row officials work and said the commissioners likewise are full-time.
The raise sequence for the county officials follows a smaller pay scale established by the previous board of commissioners in 2010 for those in office effective in 2012; those annual hikes have been zero percent in 2012 and 2013 and 2 percent each year in 2014 and 2015.
The 2 percent approved for commissioners elected in 2015 and beginning their term in 2016 will amount to a salary of $54,911, as compared to the $52,522 the current commissioners make this year.
The commissioners said the approved hikes will add just over $9,000 to the county payroll in 2016, increasing the county budget by 0.0286 percent.
They said the county pay scale for its commissioners and row officers falls in the mid-range of a handful of other state sixth class counties they looked at.
