Last Updated on August 6, 2023, 2:51 AM | Published: December 16, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma County Budget Board voted to approve raises for each of the members of the board. It is the second raise the board has given themselves in two years.
That board is composed of all the county elected officials except for the District Attorney. The Board deliberates on allocation and spending of County funds and the planning of annual budgets.
At the meeting, outgoing District 3 Commissioner Kevin Calvey introduced an item to raise the salaries of each of the Budget Board positions. The plan would stagger the salaries of the elected officers based on when their term began, resulting in a range from $122,637.50 to $135,087.50.
Currently, the salaries all sit at $122,637.50. That rate is the result of a 2020 vote by the same board to give each position a $17,000 raise.
According to County Treasurer Butch Freeman, that was the only raise in the 14 years before.
Marty Peercy reports Local government
The ‘why”
During discussion of the item, Court Clerk Rick Warren talked about the rate of inflation and the difficulties that creates for maintaining a lifestyle. He pointed out that county employees were given an 8.5% cost of living raise recently, and that they deserved every penny of it.
Warren went on to say that if inflation doesn’t continue to rise or if it diminishes, the elected officials won’t need to have a raise next time.
By law, elected officials in county government are not allowed to pay employees more than the officer to whom they report.
County Assessor Larry Stein has pointed out that capping that salary makes recruitment and retention for top positions difficult, saying that the salary is not very competitive.
District 2 Chief Deputy Michael Taylor, sitting in for Commissioner Brian Maughan, voiced concerns about the staggering of the salaries. He said that the plan lacked parity for departmental employees. Stein countered that in this particular situation, state law prevented parity.
Calvey, in the final Budget Board meeting of his tenure as Commissioner, requested this item for the agenda. At the meeting, he pointed out twice that he would not benefit from this raise.
Calvey voted against the last raise, and claimed he would give the increase to charity. This time around, instead, Calvey moved the item, which was seconded by Stein.
The vote passed 6-1, with Taylor voting no on behalf of Maughan.
Maughan opposed
Free Press spoke to Commissioner Maughan via phone to discuss his office’s vote against the raise.
Maughan said the first reason he was opposed is that he promised when first elected that he would never vote for a pay raise. In fact, two years ago when the Budget Board voted for a $17,000 raise, Maughan voted against it.
This time, Maughan explained to Free Press, there was more reason to be against it.
The point of a pay raise is less about the elected officials, and more about recruitment and retention of senior staff members. Since the law prohibits staff from being paid more than the elected official who supervises them, there is a potential draining of skills from the County into other sectors.
Maughan told us that this raise causes half of the elected officials to be paid more than the other half. Officials being sworn in on January 3 (and the winner of the special County Clerk election in March) will make $13,000 more than other sitting officials. The other four seats will likely see a raise in two years after the next election cycle.
Maughan explained that would mean senior staff from different departments will also be able to make more money, while their peers in the same positions with other departments won’t have that benefit.
“It’s just luck of the draw if you get that raise.”
Maughan specified that this raise does not reflect on the rank and file employees of the county. Maughan recently voted in favor of an 8.5% raise for county employees.
In contrast, Maughan’s own Chief Deputy is leaving the county to be the Assistant City Manager of Nichols Hills.
“That’s fourteen years of institutional knowledge,” said Maughan.
“We all know this is public service. If you want to make corporate money, go work in the corporate world,” Maughan said.
The Budget Board meets monthly and will reconvene on January 19, 2023.
Columnist covering local government in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County from May 2019 through June 2023.
