No COLAs for most county elected officials

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

With the County’s revenue dropping and contract negotiations still underway with its employees’ union, the Citizens Salary Commission voted unanimously Thursday to not provide cost of living adjustments (COLA) for 10 of the County’s 14 elected officials for the second half of 2009.

Before making its decision, the Commission was briefed on the County’s 1^st Quarter Financial results by County Administrator Pete Rose in which he said that it appears there will be serious cuts in the County’s budget for the last half of the year.

“When you postponed a decision [on COLAs] in December, I expected that we would have a labor agreement in place and a stable budget by this time, but we have neither,” he said.

Because of the County’s budget problems in December, the County Council asked the Salary Commission not to grant cost of living increases to its members. The Commission carried that forward for all elected officials except the Sheriff, District and Superior Court Judges and Prosecutor.

The Sheriff received a 4% Cost of Living Increase in January, under a provision that ties his compensation indirectly to increases in pay to members of the Sheriff’s Guild.  Superior Court Judge John Linde, District Court Judge Stewart Andrew and Prosecutor Randy Gaylord all received COLA increases during the 2008/2009 State Fiscal Year. The state pays more than half of the salaries for those office holders.

Under the San Juan County Charter, unless there is a specific exception, the Citizens Salary Commission is authorized to set the salaries of County elected officials.