Senate committee advances bill letting counties set elected-official pay; removes auditor certification requirement

A West Virginia Senate committee voted to report a committee substitute as amended for Senate Bill 6-90 to the full Senate with the recommendation that it pass. The substitute would authorize county commissions to set base salaries for elected county officials across the state's 10 county classes and allow biennial salary increases if the county budget meets specified fiscal criteria; increases are capped by the consumer price index and, if given, must be at least 2 percent.

Counsel told the committee the bill amends two sections of West Virginia Code chapter 7 governing counties and establishes a biennial review process. "It then provides for biennial, every other year, salary increases for county commissioners and the elected officials if, the budget has increased sufficiently to give the county commissioners and elected officials a 2% or greater raise, including the related employment taxes," counsel said. Counsel also said the bill is supported by the West Virginia Association of Counties.

Patty Hamilton, identified as retired executive director of the West Virginia Association of Counties and a lobbyist for the West Virginia County Clerk's Association, told the committee the change would reduce repeated requests to the legislature for salary adjustments and allow counties to budget more predictably. "I absolutely do" think the bill will solve the repeated need to return to the legislature for county pay increases, Hamilton said under oath.

Melanie Plerio, president of MAP and Associates representing the County Commissioners Association, told the committee commissioners support the measure and noted that commissioners carry fiscal responsibility for county budgets. "We do," Plerio said when asked whether county commissions support the legislation.

The state auditor's office participated remotely. Shelly Humphreys, of the State Auditor's Office, described the auditor's existing role in reviewing county budgets and said the office currently reviews the few counties that have not yet reached the post-2022 salary schedule to determine whether they have sufficient revenue to sustain increases. In initial testimony she suggested that, if the legislature intended to give more control to local officials, the auditor could be removed from the certification role; committee members later proposed and adopted an amendment removing the auditor-certification language from the bill.

Senators questioned whether the bill would require new state funding; counsel said it would not. "That is correct. This is all county money," counsel said. Committee members also confirmed that the consumer price index functions as a cap on raises rather than an automatic increase and that counties would retain discretion on whether to give raises when the statutory fiscal conditions are met.

Senator Summers proposed an amendment to remove references to the auditor's certification role; counsel identified the sections to be struck and the committee adopted the amendment. After amendment, the vice chair moved that the committee substitute as amended be reported to the full Senate with the recommendation that it pass; the chair said, "In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it," and the motion was declared adopted.

The substitute sets base salaries by county class, allows biennial increases when a county's fiscal condition meets the bill's tests, sets a minimum increase of 2 percent if a raise is granted, and caps the increase at the percentage change in the consumer price index over the preceding two years. The bill's proponents said the change gives counties more predictable budgeting authority and reduces the need to seek periodic legislative salary adjustments.