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The County Finance Committee chairman will receive a 33.5 percent raise, the county board chair a 30.5 percent raise and the other five commissioners a 25.6% raise. They also approved a 38 percent raise for the road board chairman and a 33.3 percent raise for the two other road commissioners.

They raised the salaries because elected officials are paid much less than officials in counties similar to Sanilac.

County Commissioners
At the suggestion of the personnel committee, the chairman of the County Board of Commissioners will receive $9,000, the finance chair $8,500 and the five other commissioners $8,000. Currently the commissioners make $6,365 and the board chairman gets $6895, which includes the 3% raise for all appointed and elected officials that went into effect in January. The average wage for commissioners among five comparable counties is $8490.

The finance chairman will receive a higher salary because he has additional responsibilities since the other standing committees have been dissolved.

The county commissioners wanted to make salary changes before the May 13 filing deadline for the August Primary Election so candidates for office would know what their compensation would be. The increases would not take effect until the start of the new terms on Jan. 1. Administrator John Males had not talked to the other elected officials yet about what kind of raises they are asking for, but the board will address those raises before the deadline as well.

The no voters were Board Vice-Chairman Donald Hunt and Commissioner Gary Russell.

"I know everybody on this board deserves this... (But) I watch our economy and our people, and I see what they are going through."Hunt stated at the finance committee meeting.

Russell explained his vote after the finance meeting.

"I wholeheartedly agree with the board chair and the finance chair getting more (than the others). I certainly believe this board needs to get a raise. The only thing I have trouble with is the parityÉWe have no (other) part-time employees with benefits," stated Russell.

The commissioners receive health insurance or a health insurance buyout as well as life insurance.

Males told the News commissioners have to spend an average of 15-20 hours a week on research and reading in addition to attending all the meetings in order to stay on top of the issues.

The county board will have to amend the budget once they approve raises for everyone, from the prosecutor to the county clerk, and it will cost approximately $40,000 to bring all elected officials up to the average of comparable counties.

The audit has not been completed, but at this point Males estimates the 2007 fund balance will be about $875,000, which is about 8% of the budget. Auditors recommend a fund equity of 8-14% of the budget. The county has built the fund equity up from 2-3% five years ago.

They also have to come up with a resolution that will prevent any officials from collecting two pensions from the county.

A couple of the candidates for sheriff are already collecting county pensions after retiring from the sheriff department. He said if the new sheriff is one of those men and he is considered a new employee, he would be eligible for a pension under the new retirement plan, which has a reduced benefit package.

Road commissioners
Road Commission Engineer-Manager Robb Falls used the same counties to compare salaries as the county administrator did.

Falls proposed the two road commissioners receive $8,000 and the road chair $9,000.

The comparable counties range from $7,404 at Lapeer to $3400 at Barry County. However, all but Tuscola's pay no insurance premium on the same coverage as their employees, and the Lapeer road commissioners' premiums are about one third the cost of Sanilac's. In addition, three of the other road boards have a pension plan and Sanilac does not.

"In their defense they pay 25% ($1,614) of the insurance premium. They were getting the same as the employees, a PPO 1, and they went to a PPO 3, with a higher deductible, 25% of the premium and the drug card is different too," he said. The county commissioners reduced the road board's insurance benefits to match the rest of the county employees last year.

The road board hasn't had a raise since the late '80s, and the commissioners currently earn $6,000, while the chair gets $6,500. The road commissioners' raises will come out of the road commission budget.

There were about a dozen road commission employees at the meeting, but none of them spoke during the public comment sections.

The employees have been in contract negotiations since their contract expired a year ago. Mediation was unsuccessful, and the contract fact finding was completed March 19. The parties had a 120-day period in which they could negotiate a contract after the briefing on fact finding and the receipt of the fact finding opinion. However, if they have not negotiated a contract by that time, the board may implement one.