After nearly an hour discussing, debating and voting on the Webster County Assessor’s budget and salary for the upcoming fiscal year, the Conference Board voted to raise Assessor Angie Vinson’s salary by the same percentage as the Webster County sheriff will be seeing — 4.82%.

In her initial budget request presented at the board’s Feb. 9 meeting, Vinson asked for a $110,000 salary for fiscal year 2024, a 13.5% increase over her current salary of $96,923.

However, during that meeting, some of the members expressed concerns about giving such a large salary increase. Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich proposed lowering the assessor’s wage increase from 13.5% to the highest raise percentage that a county elected official will be receiving.

The Conference Board is made up of all the supervisors, the mayors of the towns in Webster County, and representatives of each school district in the county. On the board, each group — supervisors, mayors and school board members — has one vote.

The public hearing for the assessor’s proposed budget was held Wednesday night. No written or oral comments from the public were presented.

At the Feb. 9 meeting, Vinson presented a list of similar assessor jurisdictions and the salaries they receive. Of the jurisdictions — counties and cities — with more than 25,000 parcels of land, the average assessor salary is $120,000. In nearby Hamilton County, which has fewer parcels, the assessor makes $108,000. Vinson pointed out that there are deputy county assessors that have higher salaries than her own.

“So are we going to stay behind the eight ball and lose good people?” asked Otho Mayor Duane Ferguson. “To me, we’ve been behind too long and now we’ll get to catch up.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, Webster County Supervisor Mark Campbell made a motion to amend all raises in the assessor’s office to 4%.

The mayors of Fort Dodge, Otho, Lehigh, Vincent and Badger were present, as were representatives from the Manson Northwest Webster School Board and the Fort Dodge Community School District School Board. Supervisors Campbell, Niki Conrad, Austin Hayek and Bob Thode were also present.

With the exception of Bemrich, all the mayors were in favor of the 13.5% increase. Thode, Hayek and MNW School Board Member Jim Stubbs were also in favor.

“Angie shows up and comes to work every day and does an excellent job,” said Vincent Mayor Lyn Adson. “This is how we lose good employees. And if you try to market for this position, we will be looking at these numbers to replace her.”

Campbell, Conrad, Bemrich and FDCSD School Board Member Bill Kent all opposed the 13.5% increase.

Conrad said she’d love to give Vinson and her team the raise, that they deserve it — but it’s not the responsible thing to do with taxpayer money.

“In this economy, with the burden that’s already on the taxpayers, I cannot in good faith look people in the eye — people on a fixed income, people who are living week to week — I cannot look them in the eye and say we gave someone a 13.5% raise in this economy,” she said.

Vinson said she understands the difficulties the county has had in setting its general budget and tax levy this year, but the assessor’s office has its own levy to fund its budget. The office can levy up to $0.675 per $1,000 taxable value, but the proposal for FY24 is $0.27524 per $1,000 taxable value.

“I realize that the general fund is hurting, but my budget is not,” Vinson said.

She pointed out that in past years, when the county’s general budget was healthier, raises up to 26.9% were given.

“I’m not asking for anything out of line,” she said.

Vinson also explained the workload her office has.

“Most counties of our size have multiple deputies — I have one,” Vinson said. “Most have multiple appraisers — I have one. Most have multiple clerks — I have one and a clerk data collector.”

Vinson’s office has five employees, while the average number of staff in an assessor’s office is nine.

“I realize that other areas are struggling, but we are not and I feel it’s our year to be compensated for what we do,” Vinson said.

The board took a vote on Campbell’s motion to change the raise to 4% and it did not pass.

Adson motioned to approve the budget as presented, and the vote ended in a tie — the mayors overwhelmingly voted in favor, but both the school boards and the supervisors were split.

Campbell made another motion at 4%, which again ended in a tie.

The board briefly considered tabling the budget and setting another meeting to reattempt the process.

“If we have another meeting, it’s going to be the same thing,” Vinson said. “It’s going to be a tie … it’s just going to be wasting everyone’s time, so if somebody wants to make a motion for 4%.”

Instead, a motion was made to match her raise to that of the highest raise for a county elected official — the sheriff’s raise at 4.82%. The motion passed. For FY24, Vinson’s salary will raise to $101,595.

Vinson was appointed assessor by the Conference Board in 2017. She has been with the office since 1996 and prior to being appointed assessor, served as the Webster County deputy assessor for 11 years.