Commissioners' salaries might rise by 48 percent

County body proposes increase over four years

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

The Charles County Compensation Commission recommended a four-year incremental $28,000 salary increase for the county commissioners' president position and a nearly $24,000 bump for the other commissioner seats between 2011 and 2014.

By 2014 the commission president could be pocketing $90,000 and the associate board members could each be making $76,500, for a total for all five commissioners just short of $400,000. The increase is about 48 percent if the total amount is paid to the commissioners in 2014.

Recent budget decisions by the commissioners in response to lower-than expected tax revenues and cuts in state funding to the county budget have included 10 furlough days without pay for all employees, a salary freeze, a 3 percent across the board cut in most county budgets and 2 percent from the board of education and sheriff's office, a hiring freeze and layoffs of several communications employees.

On Wednesday, the commissioners unanimously voted to direct staff to prepare a bill approving raises for introduction and consideration, which will be followed by a public hearing later. If the bill remains unchanged and approved, the new salaries would take effect Jan. 1, 2011.

The commissioners have the power to lower the proposed figures but not raise them any higher.

The reasoning for the boost, said compensation commission Chairman Phil McDonagh, is not to scrape the bottom of the county coffers, but to match the responsibilities of the board members and encourage a qualified field of commissioner candidates for the 2010 election.

"One of the things we felt was important to acknowledge was how the county has changed, how the population increased, how diversity of that population created an expanded roll for the local government and increases the demands on that local government in ways the county had not experienced in previous decades," McDonagh said. "The requirement of the elected officials to serve the community in a way not required in past generations becomes a more pointed and important element of service. I don't suggest all of these activities require acknowledgement in compensation, but there needs to be an acknowledgment of the time requirement and demands on elected officials in a county that's experienced these changes over the last decades.

"The objectives we were trying to determine and target as goals were to recommend compensation that would encourage everyone in the community to consider elected office," McDonagh said.

McDonagh explained that for the last six months the five member of the compensation commission, including him, have conducted interviews with the current boards and commissions and researched Charles County and neighboring jurisdictions' compensation practices.

The commission learned that since 1986 the county commissioners' salaries have averaged less than a 3.75 percent annual increase, and in the past the commission president and four other commissioners have received equal incremental yearly increases, which meant the latter were getting a higher percentage increase compared to the board leader.

In 2010, Charles County commissioners' President F. Wayne Cooper (D) will receive $58,000 and commissioners' Vice President Edith J. Patterson (D), Commissioner Reuben B. Collins II (D), Commissioner Gary V. Hodge (D) and Commissioner Samuel N. Graves Jr. (D) will each earn $48,000.

When compared to their state-level counterparts, the commissioners were working nine more months than the delegates in Annapolis but only pocketing 25 percent more, according to the proposal documents.

The salaries of the county's department heads — who answer to the commissioners — start at $118,000 and can go as high as $148,000, not including the county administrator's position which pays nearly $180,000.

"The gross dollars that are the subject of our recommendation are relatively insignificant in the context of a $300 million plus budget," McDonagh said. "That's not to suggest that we don't understand the complexities of this kind of decision and recommendation, but in the broader spectrum of goals and objectives we felt it was important to make that quantum leap."

The compensation commission also addressed the question of whether the commissioners besides the full-time presidential seat were considered the same or part-time employees.

"It became very clear to us … that ‘part time' was a term that was ridiculous to apply to any commissioner, even though the president statutorily has traditional responsibilities and duties and there's an appropriateness to higher compensation and maybe requires more time," McDonagh said. "The other county commissioners certainly were required to dedicate more than anyone could reasonably call part-time service."

Acknowledging the enormous time and effort any of the commissioner seats requires, McDonagh said the compensation commission took into consideration the fear some potential candidates might have in running for election versus having to give up their income, when recommending the salary raise.

"The brainpower that is resident in this county is massive, and we did not want to create a scenario where we were artificially prohibiting those who might otherwise seek to serve at that level but could not because of an economic factor. That really embodied the approach to broaden the potential population of candidates," McDonagh said.

Graves said it was important to offset the financial risk of running for office because "otherwise you're always dependent on people who have other means of income.

When asked whether he would accept the salary bump if re-elected, Graves said he would write a check similar to the one earlier this autumn that was equal to the 10 furloughed days of his position if another furlough was passed down; otherwise he felt the salary was at the point that was comparable to the responsibilities of the job.

Patterson said she would be taking a "wait and see" approach to the recommended raise.

"I think what we're trying to do is put a value on a job," Patterson said.

Collins said he was uncomfortable speculating about the future, and Cooper said he would "probably take the salary," but his actions would depend on the economy and whether there had been a turnaround or other furloughs and cuts.

Hodge could not be reached for comment.

In an e-mail, county resident Lou Ramer questioned the proposal.

"I question the wisdom in this. When the Charles County Commissioners are furloughing all the employees and are laying off other personnel how can this be so?" the e-mail asked.

"Even the Emergency Medical Service personnel have had their pay cut 2.5 percent and they are still being furloughed 80 hours, between now and the end of the fiscal year. Again, if this is true should not the leadership of our great county be setting the example for fiscal responsibility?"

Included in the motion to draw up a bill is the salary increase for three boards and two commissions, though none of the five is raised by more than several hundred dollars.

msomers@somdnews.com