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Benton County compensation board recommends mixed raises for elected officials; supervisors decline increase
Summary
At a Compensation Board meeting, members debated merit versus cost-of-living raises and approved a package of recommended dollar increases for several elected offices while recommending no raise for county supervisors.
At a meeting of the Benton County Compensation Board, members debated whether to give across-the-board percentage raises, department-by-department adjustments or flat-dollar stipends and ultimately approved a package of recommended increases for several elected officials while recommending no raise for supervisors.
Board members spent the meeting weighing two basic approaches: a uniform percentage increase that compounds across years and a merit or flat-dollar approach intended to show actual dollar changes to taxpayers. Several members said a flat dollar amount is more transparent to the public than a percentage. County staff warned that a recurring percentage increase compounds each year and can quickly add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the payroll budget.
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