Shawnee County commissioners raise pay by 5% for themselves, 10% for other county elected officials
Effective Saturday, Shawnee County will raise their annual pay by 5% for county commissioners, 10% for most other elected officials and 13.56% for Sheriff Brian Hill.
County Commissioners Aaron Mays, Kevin Cook and Bill Riphahn voted 3-0 Thursday to approve those increases.
Commissioners also unanimously approved a separate resolution establishing salaries taking effect Saturday for 14 county department heads. Each got a pay raise. The largest increase was 31%, for human resources director Angela Lewis.
Mays said the pay raises resulted from a wage study conducted last year for the county by Tallahassee, Fla.-based Evergreen Solutions, LLC, which said the county needed to pay its employees more in order to be more competitive with similar employers.
The commission has since taken various steps to increase pay for other county employees. The pay raises come at a time when many employers are having trouble finding good workers.
These elected officials will get raises
Commissioners on Thursday approved a resolution granting pay raises of the following:
• 5%, to $63,729.90 a year, for whoever serves as commission chairman, with Mays currently holding that position.
• 5%, to 57,936.32, for the other two commissioners.
• 13.56%, to $124,999.94, for Hill.
• 10%, to $162,333.08, for District Attorney Mike Kagay.
• 10%, to $102,850.02, for election commissioner Andrew Howell.
• 10%, to 97,333.08 for County Clerk Cyndi Beck
• 10%, to $87,638.20 for Treasurer Larry Mah.
• 10%, to $81,418.74, for Register of Deeds Becky Nioce.
Funding OK'd for parks and recreation reorganization
Commissioners also voted 3-0 to authorize the parks and recreation department to spend $47,920.21 it has available in its budget to help finance a reorganization it is carrying out aimed at making its operations smoother and more compact.
No current employees are losing their jobs as a result of the reclassification, which includes:
• Eliminating vacant positions for an account clerk, outcomes assistant and professional development and services superintendent.
• Consolidating the department's positions for its park operations director and planning and development director into one job.
• Consolidating its positions for its volunteer services coordinator and community events supervisor into one job.
• Reclassifying 10 management and supervisory positions.
• And creating new jobs for a multimedia coordinator, an accountant and an administrative superintendent.
County to pay to provide services involving corrections, youth
In other action, commissioners voted 3-0 to approved contracts arranging for the county to provide:
• $434,303.23 for juvenile intake services and $181,726 for juvenile community services to the Kansas Children's Service League.
• $100,500 to Heartland Regional Alcohol and Drug Assessment Center for the assessment and support of clients sentenced to Community Corrections.
• $81,984.08 to Boys and Girls Clubs of Topeka for youth development services and $75,918 for teen center programs.
• And up to $40,000 to One Heart Project Kansas to provide mentorship services to justice-involved youth.
Before voting on the contracts, commissioners heard about presentations about the programs involved from people who help operate them.
Trash pickup, budget hearings
Thursday's meeting also included announcements that:
• Commissioners on Tuesday will begin hearings that are part of their process of crafting the 2023 county budget, with the schedule for those being available on the county website.
• The county won't provide solid waste pickup Monday. Monday customers will have their trash picked up Tuesday, while Tuesday and Wednesday customers will have their trash picked up Wednesday.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Shawnee County Commission OKs pay raises, cites wage study as reason
