The Webster County Board of Compensation voted Monday to recommend a 3% raise across the board for elected county officials, in keeping with the rising cost of living.

All officials but one voted in favor of the motion. Those present included Dale Struecker, Dan Flattery, Cathy Mickelson, Nick Cochrane and James Kesterson. Only Mickelson voted against the motion.

The proposal would raise elected county officials’ salaries to:

• Sheriff — $98,880, up from $96,000;

• Supervisor — $40,170, up from $39,000;

•Supervisor Chairman — $41,200, up from $40,000;

• Auditor — $72,100, up from $70,000;

• Treasurer — $72,100, up from $70,000;

• Recorder — $72,100, up from $70,000;

• Attorney — $123,600, up from $120,000;

• Assessor — $88,736, up from $86,151;

• Board of Health Director — $115,385, up from $112,024;

• Board of Health Chief Financial Officer — $82,349, up from $79,950;

• Human Resource Director — $87,550, up from $85,000.

In 2019, the board voted to give about a 2.7% raise for most offices, with a few exceptions. Supervisors were recommended to receive a 3% raise.

The board briefly considered a 6% raise for the county auditor before the passing motion was made.

“How do you justify giving the auditor a bigger raise than the county treasurer and recorder, though?” asked Cochrane, who was elected as vice chair of the board.

Mickelson noted that offices in the courthouse left with extra work due to a vacancy, such as the one posed by Planning and Zoning Administrator Chad Bahr’s recent departure, automatically go to the Auditor’s Office.

“I think you could justify a 6% raise pretty easily,” she said.

“I just don’t know that any of (the office’s job duties) is justification for giving one office an increase over the others,” Cochraine responded, conceding the good performance of the Auditor’s Office.

County supervisors must approve the recommendations. Chairman Dale Struecker said that Webster County supervisors typically reject proposed raises uniformly for all offices.

Last year, the county attorney received a 12.5% raise and the sheriff received a 6.5% raise, which the board said was necessary to make the offices competitive with other similarly-sized counties in Iowa. The attorney’s raise was the fourth largest one granted in the state last year.

Ranking 16th in the state for population, Webster County is in the top quarter of all Iowa counties in terms of public office salaries.