By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
The supervisors discussed the recommendations from the county compensation board regarding 2026-2027 salaries for elected officials. Eric Reinhart summarized the compensation board’s salary increase recommendations for elected officials.
“The comp board met on Jan. 5. Based on my time on the board, we’ve always just come to you guys with just one general number for all departments. This year, it was determined by the board to take a different approach,” Reinhart said. “We recommend for the supervisors 4%, the county attorney 6%, the treasurer, recorder and auditor all 7%, and then for the Sheriff’s office, we recommend 15%.”
Reinhart explained the board’s process in determining these recommendations involved considering population rank, workload and other factors, comparing to other counties.
“The county attorney and the supervisors are about on point, but everybody else is lagging. The sheriff’s office, in particular, compared to other similar counties, he’s far behind. Fifteen percent would get him into that middle range,” Reinhart said.
The supervisors talked of the possibility of implementing a certain proportional percentage of these recommended raises. No formal action was taken regarding salaries at this time.
The supervisors set a public hearing regarding the Scott Calmer Minor Subdivision. The hearing will be 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Board Chair Steve Smith brought up his idea of having one supervisor be the “board PR person” that could deal with requests from the media for statements. He agreed that all five supervisors have the right to speak on issues but simply asked the supervisors to “mull over” the possible benefits of having one person be the point person to speak for the board at times.
The supervisor voted to appoint the board chair and vice chair as the standard members to sit in on employee performance reviews. Steve Smith is currently chair, and JD Kuster is vice chair.
The supervisors meet regularly on Tuesdays at 9 a.m. The public is welcome to attend in person (at the courthouse) or via remote technology. To join remotely, call 323-792-6123, then use meeting code 547029216#