County clerk, commission to review salary scale

By Charlene Sims

MOUND CITY – On Monday, Jan. 5, Linn County officials continued the discussion on the county’s payroll matrix (pay scale) and limiting increases to two steps on the matrix, which was decided and seemingly finalized for the employees handbook two weeks ago.

At the Dec. 22 meeting, discussion was held about elected officials being able to give whatever raise they wanted to an employee as long as it was in their budget but other employees under the commissioners being held to the two-step increase.

Commissioner Jason Hightower said that he would like to see the verbiage that pay raises are not to exceed two steps unless accompanied by increased certification or promotion in job responsibilities.

Ware had said she would look into it with the human resources consultant about how that should be worded.

However, on Jan. 5 as Commissioners Alison Hamilton and Jim Johnson were looking at pending items on the agenda, the topics of compensation and the payroll matrix started another discussion.

Hamilton said, “When we’re talking about the current matrix that we use, a lot of the times I feel we go into executive session and we have so many questions, how that works. It’s multiple pages when you’re printing them out. Sometimes, we haven’t even had all the pages there with the line items with the columns.”

Johnson asked if Ware would ask other clerks how they do theirs.

Ware said she was extremely interested in what other county clerks were doing. However, she said that as she was reviewing the pay scale with two employees in her office, she was surprised at what that would mean for county employees for 2026. “What a fiasco,” she said.

“And I am not going to lie,” she said. “If I’m being honest looking at that matrix, if you tell somebody they’re going to go over one spot on that thing and they are getting like a 4-cent or 5-cent raise, that’s a slap in the face.

“So, I really think our entire matrix needs to be addressed. I want to reach out to clerks and I will find out how they do their pay scales and what theirs is including because ours, it is a lot. It’s very overwhelming to just sit and take a look at it.”

“I know when I first came on that it was just, such a lot’s happened this first year for me, but when I first came on that was huge,” Hamilton said. “That was something we really wanted to focus on was trying to update that matrix, have it align with other counties where they’re at, whether it was the sheriff’s department and their positions that they had.

“It just doesn’t align with what other counties are doing and paying. So we need to be competitive. We also need to look into, you know, I don’t know if you want to look into Miami County’s.

“I would like to see, like you’re saying, other counties, how they are doing their matrix, why systems are they using? Is it comparable to where we’re at? Just in general though, even if we stayed at where we’re at pay-wise, when I look at the matrix, it’s a little confusing. Too many columns, too much going on. Sometimes, I would be sent a matrix and it’s the wrong year. It’s hard for me to double check.”

Johnson said, “I personally think we need somehow to narrow the steps down, And whether you reach it in five years, you know this is the top pay and then the only thing you get is cost of living, you know, I think we have too many steps. Just like what you said, you give somebody 10 or 15 cents.”

“Absolutely,” said Ware. “And I’m not picking on you guys as commissioners personally, and then you want to cap out that they can only go two steps on the matrix. So that to me is another slap in the face. And it’s not that you are intentionally trying to say no you are not worthy of that but you’re like we can’t get above and beyond what we can afford either.”

“Back to the two-step situation,” said Hamilton. “It was mentioned that it was voted on that you cannot give anyone more that a two-step raise. I don’t think that that is accurate now that we’ve looked into it. But incorrect information was provided. We went off of that. Then we figured out that it wasn’t that, and then we still went with (it), it’s just confusing.”

Ware pointed out that the county has several departments under elected officials that the commissioners cannot control. That sort of throws the matrix out the window a little bit, she said.

“If I can afford it as an elected official then that matrix means nothing,” said Ware. “So, I definitely think it needs to be revamped. I will reach out to some other clerks and see what I can come up with.”

Hamilton added, “Also just reviewing the matrix and the inconsistencies with the positions that we have. The positions that we have, some of those positions are not even mentioned or labeled in the matrix. And so we’ve had issues with employees that have come to us and requested a raise because this is all the stuff they are doing and their position and their title, quote unquote, isn’t even in the matrix.

“So its hard to argue my stance on no, this is where you’re at. This is where you’re getting paid because it’s not even on there.”

Hamilton said the county should want their employees to be successful and stay here. She said she was open to looking into the matrix and having comparable compensation within the surrounding counties. She said she would like to know where other counties stand and how their matrix is utilized.

Ware said she would start checking with other county clerks on this information.