County to vote on wage study

LEE COUNTY – The Lee County Board of Supervisors will be voting Tuesday to invest in a wage study to look at how county employees are paid in comparison to similar jobs.
The study is part of the regular board meeting agenda with the meeting back at the administration office board room in downtown Fort Madison.
The board has wanted to engage in a study for more than a year now with payroll dominating the majority of county spending. In recent years, the debate over pay increases has focused on comparisons between Lee County employees' pay and other similar counties in the state.
In most of those comparisons, population has been used as the main factor of comparison, but there have been some hints that other factors, such as property valuations, have been suggested.
The board has been moving toward the idea of having a study done at the request of several supervisors. Supervisors Denise Fraise and Ginger Knisley have been in contact with Iowa State University for the study.
The recommendation on Tuesday’s agenda is to fund the study at $15,000. The work will be done by a grad student at ISU under the direction of the university’s Department of Economics.
Comparisons have always been part of cost-of-living increases at the county, but ramped up following the Back the Blue law, which mandated a comparative formula for the sheriff’s position. That comparison of salaries involved other law enforcement agencies around the state, including municipal and other counties of similar population, the Iowa State Patrol, and Department of Criminal Investigation.
The passing of that law resulted in an increase in the sheriff’s salary in Lee County of more than 40%. That mandate prompted other elected officials in the county to request a correction in their salaries which had dropped behind other counties after years of minimal pay increases.
No specifics on the study were included in this week’s packet so those could be part of the discussion Monday.
Other agenda items include the board’s consideration of a second three-year commitment of opioid funds to the Talbot House for Sober Living in Keokuk. The county paid the final annual $50,000 payment in July to the organization in the first three-year commitment. This proposed agreement is for another $150,000 over three years.
Fund transfers and a contract with Cessford Construction for granular stockpile are also on the agenda for Tuesday.
(Editor's Note: In an effort for full transparency, Pen City Current editor Chuck Vandenberg works for Lee County in a grant writer position.)