Being a County Commissioner is a full time position

Salaries in 2022 = $90,000 (Salary Reduction taken)

Salaries in 2023 = $112,360 (Salary Increase of $22,360)

Salaries in 2024 = $112,360

Canyon County Commissioners vote unanimously to restore, raise salaries

CALDWELL — The Canyon County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved raising their salaries from $90,000 to $112,360.73 on Thursday morning.

In September, then-Commissioners Keri Smith and Pam White voted in a 2-to-1 decision to drop the salaries from just over $103,000 to $90,000 to accommodate the cost of a new chief operating officer. Commissioner Leslie Van Beek voted in opposition, saying that the incoming board members, Brad Holton and Zach Brooks, ran on the current salary, calling it a “slap in the face,” as previously reported.

The resolution approved Thursday restores the commissioners’ salaries to their previous level, plus a 9% cost-of-living adjustment that was afforded to all county employees in the most recent budget cycle, bringing the salary to $112,360.73.

In December, the county announced that Greg Rast, who was serving as the county’s director of information technology, would assume the role of chief operations officer. The purpose of the role is to provide stability to the board of commissioners and maximize its efficiency, as previously reported.

Rast said Thursday morning that it was his coordination with the county’s human resources director, Kate Rice, to get the commissioners considering a new resolution about their salaries. Rice said she authored the resolution.

“I fully support it and believe it’s the right thing to do,” Rice said, adding that her research shows that it is in line with other commissioner salaries for other counties.

Holton said the process by which the previous board reduced the salaries lacked transparency.

“To me, members of this board went into this room with a piece of paper that was already written, with a decision … a proposal to reduce the salaries, which I feel as a citizen was capricious and arbitrary,” Holton said.

As an electrical contractor, Holton said he is taking a pay cut to serve as commissioner.

“So this isn’t about money,” Holton said, “this is about the integrity of Canyon County and our elected officials going forward.”

Van Beek agreed. “This is not about because I don’t have financial resources,” Van Beek said. “That’s not the point; the point is that this office falls under the governor in terms of authority, decision making. There is a lot that happens with this job.”

Brooks said he felt “indigestion” at the idea that the county would be adjusting its budget to cover the cost of the new salaries.

“I’m wondering how I sign off on a resolution where we’re approving something that is over budget,” Brooks said.

But County Controller Zach Wagoner said that a budget can be thought of as a plan, and while it is the general intent to stay inside it, it is normal for changes to be made as needed, or for a number of changes to be made together toward the end of the fiscal year budget.

“The county certainly has the financial resources to make this happen,” Wagoner said.

Later in the meeting, Brooks said he intended to vote in favor of the resolution.

Sheriff Kieran Donahue said he is also supports the pay raise.

“I think it needs to be done, and I think you deserve it,” Donahue said of adjusting the budget. “It needs to be made whole regardless of what happened in the past.”

Canyon County employs 928 people, including 17 temporary and seasonal workers and 70 part-time workers. The highest-paid county employee is Joseph Kronz, a forensic pathologist for the Coroner’s Office. He makes $200,000 annually and was hired in 2014. The second-highest-paid employee is Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Taylor, who makes $164,107 annually. The lowest-paid employee is the commissioners’ kitchen assistant at $7.90 an hour, part time. The three county commissioners make $112,360 annually, and their positions are full time. Below is a searchable database showing the salaries of all county employees as of May 2023. Some searches will contain multiple pages of results. (Click to see Database with the Idaho Statesman)

BEHIND OUR REPORTING Why did we make this public? Public employees work for taxpayers. Their salaries and wages are public information. Idaho state employee pay has been publicly available on various websites, including the Idaho Statesman’s, for years. But there hasn’t always been an easy way to see what Treasure Valley’s local governments pay their employees. We believe there is value in opening the curtains to show how governments spend taxpayer money. Not only can that sunshine help prevent and catch fraud, waste and abuse, it lets us see how wages differ between, and within, the many offices of our local governments. Have an idea for another database? Think we should make more information public? Contact us at newsroom@idahostatesman.com or tips@idahostatesman.com.

Read more at: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/canyon-county/article276377061.html#storylink=cpy