The Compensation Board has recommended 9.5% salary increases in Fiscal Year 2025 for the Webster County county sheriff, recorder, auditor, treasurer and attorney. The Compensation Board recommended no increase for the supervisors and the supervisors chairperson.

The Board of Supervisors received that recommendation Tuesday morning.

“Obviously, these recommendations do not take the budget into account because the board views its role as making a recommendation that we think is appropriate in light of the work done by our elected officials, and taking into account things like inflation, cost of insurance and the place our elected officials slot in comparison to similarly situated counties,” said Compensation Board Chairman Nick Cochrane. “So we make these recommendations fully aware that it’s up to this body to fit them into the county’s budgeting process.”

The Compensation Board’s recommendation is simply a recommendation and is not binding for the Board of Supervisors as it sets the county’s budget.

Last year, the Board of Supervisors decided to slash the recommendation percentages by half. The initial recommendation from the Compensation Board ranged from increases of 4.72% to 9.63%. The proposal for the amended lower increases for Fiscal Year 2024 passed on a 3-2 vote.

At the time, Supervisor Bob Thode stated he would vote against the proposal because he wasn’t made aware of the Compensation Board’s meeting where the recommendations were initially discussed and he did not have a representative at the meeting. Supervisor Austin Hayek said he would vote no because he felt the supervisors’ salary increases should have been cut to zero as a cost-saving measure.

As the Board of Supervisors progresses through budget season, it will take the Compensation Board’s recommendation into account and will approve the elected officials’ salaries at an upcoming meeting following a public budget hearing.

In other business, the board also approved an agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation to allow the use of County Roads P43, P61 and P46 as temporary detour routes while the DOT completes a pair of projects later this year.

The DOT will be replacing two pipe culverts in rural Webster County over the summer. One is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 169 and County Route D68 near Lanyon south of Harcourt, and the other is just west of the intersection of Highway 169 and Oak Avenue between Harcourt and Dayton.

Webster County Engineer Jamie Johll said it’s pretty common for Iowa DOT projects to use county roads as detour routes. He added that when the project is complete, the DOT will pay a “nominal amount” to the county for the use of those roads.

The project is expected to run from July 1 to Oct. 1.