Compensation board votes to increase salaries of Douglas County officials

Published 6:00 am Thursday, June 1, 2023

Douglas County’s compensation board voted May 18 to increase the salaries of elected officials.

Douglas County commissioners and the Sheriff will get a 6% increase, while the assessor, clerk and surveyor will receive a 4% increase.

The increase in pay for Sheriff John Hanlin was approved as it is in line with a pay increase the undersheriff received. Douglas County has a rule that the sheriff cannot make less money than any of the people he supervises. It was noted that the pay difference between the sheriff and undersheriff is 0.7%.

When it comes to the county commissioners, there was a recommendation to increase the salary by 8%, so it would be 20% below the wages of the sheriff. However, the board unanimously decided to increase 6%.

“We’re getting the job done for way less money than the other counties are,” compensation board member Katherine Jones said. “I know a lot of people are commenting and saying things about us giving the raises and I just want to be clear that they’re not making more than other commissioners are making in the state.”

Douglas County is one of the few large counties without a county administrator to take on day-to-day operations, something the commissioners have taken on locally.

Douglas County Human Resources Director Michael Kurtz explained that in lieu of having a county administrator, each of the commissioners have liaison assignments and directly supervise those department heads.

“It is my opinion as the county HR director that a fair comparison of the commissioner’s wages should include the wages of county administrators as our board fulfills that role,” Kurtz said.

Between 2005 and 2017, a 12-year timespan, commissioners in Douglas County received a 1% pay increase creating a wage gap in comparison with other counties.

When comparing wages for commissioners, Deschutes County and Linn counties paid higher wages, while Yamhill and Benton counties saw lower wages for their commissioners. All four of those counties also have administrators who earns between $137,000 and $242,000.

Josephine County, which has a population of 88,346, does not have a county administrator and paid its commissioners approximately $10,000 less than Douglas County.

The county compensation board consists of three members who are responsible for recommending a compensation schedule for elected officials.

Douglas County Commissioners approved a 4% cost of living increase for all staff employees during a January meeting, which will be in addition to merit-based increased and other established increases in pay.

Kurtz said the present board of commissioners have provided regular cost of living increases and annual merit increases to keep employees within market comparison with other counties.

“However, unusually high inflation or high demand statewide for specific job skills may drive the job market to exceed normal expectations,” Kurtz said. “In those situations, we perform wage studies and, subject to board approval and budget capacity, we make wage adjustments as needed.”

Kurtz specified that Douglas County has 697 employees and 30 open recruitments, including 13 positions that are part time or on-call. Kurtz said it did also include some key positions such as deputy district attorneys.

Kurtz said there are currently 17 county employees who earn more money than the commissioners who supervise them, excluding the sheriff’s department and district attorney’s office.

Jones said, “I always feel that a supervisor should be paid more than their employees.”

Kurtz said this is not a concern to the commissioners. “They understand that elected officials are separate and distinct from regular employees on many levels including how compensation is determined,” he said.

It was noted in the meeting that four of the elected positions were uncontested in the last election, indicating to some on the board that the positions were not appealing because of their wage.

Approval of the county budget is on the commissioners agenda for the final meeting in June, which is the end of the fiscal year.