Commissioners' pay raise on the table.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

Just weeks after a federal funding shortfall forced Lane County commissioners to make the biggest cut to the county's work force in 25 years, a citizens' board is recommending raises of more than 7 percent each for the commissioners and sheriff.

The group said the officials' compensation is well below the going rate in government. But four of the five commissioners oppose raises for themselves or are leaning that way, saying more money for them would be inappropriate given the county's fiscal predicament and a struggling local economy.

"I find it really difficult to even consider a pay increase after having to lay off 59 (employees) and not fund 120 positions," board Chairman Faye Stewart said. "I'd prefer it doesn't even come up and we don't discuss it."

The citizens' board - composed of public- and private-sector executives who deal with compensation - meets periodically to determine whether the pay and benefits for the county's elected officials are keeping pace with the market.

The findings: Total compensation for the commissioners is 10.6 percent below the average for their counterparts in Clackamas, Jackson, Marion, Multnomah and Washington counties; Sheriff Russ Burger's pay and benefits are 6.6 percent below the average for the other sheriffs, and Burger's compensation also is below that of Undersheriff Tom Turner, whom Burger supervises, Human Resources Director Greta Utecht said.

The compensation board recommends increasing the base pay of the commissioners and sheriff by more than 7 percent each, and giving all the elected officials - including Assessor Anette Spickard, District Attorney Doug Harcleroad and justices of the peace - cost-of-living raises expected to be 3 percent or less in future negotiations.

The recommendation is slated to go to the budget committee this month or the next, and to the commissioners in October. But the commissioners make up half of the budget committee and the proposal could die there, Stewart said.

The compensation board's review comes less than a month after the commissioners cut almost 8 percent of personnel, fearing that the federal government won't renew $47 million in annual payments that compensate for a steady drop in timber sales on federal land.

South Eugene Commissioner Peter Sorenson said he is leaning against the raises and West Lane Commissioner Bill Fleenor said he's adamantly opposed to them.

"My mission is to carry out the citizens' will and that means living within our means," Fleenor said. "And that means not to take a raise."

North Eugene Commissioner Bobby Green supports the raises for future elected officials, so they won't fall further behind the market. Green stressed, however, that given the county's economic trouble, he would return any increase to him back to the government or donate it to the community.

Springfield Commissioner Bill Dwyer, however, supports the raises outright.

The timing is "lousy," Dwyer said, but the topic will meet with resistance no matter when it comes up, he added, and the bigger risk is letting compensation lapse too far behind the going rate.

"What you wind up with is a situation where to gain parity you have to make an outlandish adjustment that causes you really, really a lot of grief," Dwyer said. "I don't want to go there again."

Dwyer was referring to the commissioners' decision in 2002 to raise their base salaries for the first time in 15 years; the 30 percent increase up to the market average sparked a public backlash.

Since 1994, the commissioners have received cost-of-living raises that average 1.25 percent per year.

The county's approach to compensation isn't perfect, Utecht said, but few models in the public sector are.

The commissioners historically set compensation based on the natural hierarchy within the government.

But the pay wasn't enough to recruit and retain employees or to motivate them to climb the ladder within the system, Utecht said.

The commissioners decided two years ago to consider other county governments when determining compensation. The county often finds itself to be paying below market rate for jobs, so recommendations for raises are often the result, Utecht said.

That approach leads to debate about whether other agencies pay too much, of course. Add to it the fact that the commissioners must ultimately approve their own raises, and Utecht's concerns about the process become clear.

"I don't think there's any good way of doing this," she said. "I feel very sorry for them."

COUNTY BOARD RAISES

Lane County's citizen compensation board recommends raises for the commissioners and other elected officials. The recommendations:

Commissioners: 7.7 percent raise in base pay, to $78,400; plus cost-of-living raises (expected to be 3 percent or less)

Sheriff: 7.5 percent raise in base pay, to $122,000; plus cost-of-living raises

Assessor, district attorney, justices of the peace: Cost-of-living raises