Commissioners’ Raises Assailed Pend Oreille Employees Critical Of Increases Over Next Two Years

Pend Oreille County employees are still fuming about county commissioners’ decision last month to give themselves 16 percent raises over the next two years while handing nonunion workers 2-percent increases.

Commissioners note they have frequently not taken raises in the past, and say they need the two 8 percent annual raises to keep ahead of employees. At $29,760 this year, they’re still well behind other elected officials in the county and some unelected managers.

“When the head janitor that oversees our buildings down here makes more money than I do, I feel something is wrong,” Commissioner Karl McKenzie said.

Unconvinced employees are so angry they’re thinking about joining a union - even though they voted out a union in the 1970s and voted against joining another one in the ‘80s.

Even staunchly anti-union Road Department accountant Jan Jager is irritated with the commissioners.

“I’m just upset because of the unfairness in the wage differences,” Jager said. “As a taxpayer, I would be really concerned that this is a runaway situation.”

She cited a comparison - prepared by another county accountant - that shows commissioners’ wages have increased 98.8 percent over the past 10 years, compared with 89.9 percent for other county elected officials and an average of 47.3 percent for all county employees.

The accountant who prepared the comparison said she was reprimanded for using a county computer.

Numerous other employees signed an “open letter” of complaint to the commissioners.

Among other things, the letter said the commissioners offered unionized road crews 5 percent pay raises.

“You claim that negotiating with unions is a thorn in your side, but they are rewarded and we are not,” the letter said. “What kind of message is that sending to us? Perhaps we should consider joining a union.”

Like Jager, Deputy Prosecutor Greg Hicks said he has no complaint about his salary, just the inequity of a “cost-of-living” raise that’s not the same for everyone.

“I’m having a hard time understanding why there’s a 700 percent difference between the commissioners and the rank-and-file,” Hicks said. “The amount of the spread really causes me some concern, and I think that view is universally held by the other employees.”

One, who asked not to be identified, complained that commissioners get paid more than most full-time employees even though they work only two days a week. Although commissioners claim to work full schedules for the county, the employee noted McKenzie held down a full-time job until recently in addition to being commissioner, and commissioners Mike Hanson and Joel Jacobsen both operate businesses.

“I don’t have that kind of time,” the employee said.

But commissioners are quick to display calendars that show them attending meetings just about every day of the month. They say some of those meetings produce big dividends for the county. For example, they said their participation in the Washington Government Entity Pool yielded a $40,000 insurance premium reduction last year.

Commissioners say they didn’t intend the disputed raises to be tied to the cost of living. They fault employees for failing to acknowledge the “step” raises they get every two years for the first decade of their employment in addition to periodic increases in the scale - or the periodic “longevity” raises top-of-scale employees get.

Commissioners said they don’t get “step” or longevity raises. And even though a prior County Commission voted in 1979 to authorize perpetual 8 percent annual raises for commissioners, they often don’t take those raises.

Jacobsen said this year’s salary adjustment is “a done deal. We’re not going to change it.”