Caroline County commissioners to introduce ordinance creating compensation review commission

Caroline County commissioners voted on Sept. 2 to introduce an ordinance next week that would create a five-member compensation review commission to study and recommend changes to the salaries and allowances of county commissioners.

The ordinance, drafted for compliance with Section 10-302 of the Local Government Article, would authorize a commission appointed from county residents to review pay, allowances and the number of hours commissioners work and to return a recommendation to the board. The commissioners voted to introduce the measure as regular legislation at their next meeting; a voice vote was taken and the motion carried.

County staff said the move responds to the fact the county has not raised commissioners’ pay since 2009. The county code currently lists the president's annual salary at $16,000 and the other commissioners at $15,000; those figures appear in the draft ordinance and would be changed only by future ordinance if the commission recommends different amounts.

“This bill that I’ve drafted is compliant with 10-302 of the Local Government Article,” said Mr. Barrow, a county staff member who presented the draft. He told the board the commission would usually review comparable counties and the amount of time commissioners spend on official duties before issuing a recommendation.

Under the draft and state statute discussed during the meeting, the review commission would consist of five county residents serving four-year terms, and it would report by Dec. 15 (described in the draft as within 15 days after the beginning of the fourth year of the term). Appointments would be effective on the ordinance’s effective date; county staff set the ordinance effective date, if adopted as regular legislation, as Nov. 8, with appointments effective Nov. 9. The board discussed but did not adopt specific language tying future adjustments to an automatic cost-of-living formula; members said the commission could recommend such an approach.

Commissioners and staff discussed practical limits and the difficulty of quantifying commissioners’ hours. The board considered striking language that would label the position explicitly “part time,” leaving that judgment to the commission’s review. Board members also discussed staggering commission membership but removed that requirement from the circulated draft.

The ordinance process timeline discussed at the meeting requires the board to act on the commission’s recommendation within 60 days of receiving it; otherwise the recommendation would stand as approved. County staff said the appointing and advertising process for commission members would begin after the ordinance’s effective date.

Next steps: the board will introduce the draft ordinance at its next meeting as regular legislation. If introduced and adopted on the normal schedule discussed at the Sept. 2 session, appointments to the review commission could be effective Nov. 9 and the commission would be required to report back by Dec. 15 under the timetable described in the draft and by the referenced state statute.