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Board asks staff to return a compensation policy before changing elected officials’ pay
Summary
Following an Evergreen Solutions study on elected-official compensation, the board directed staff to prepare a formal compensation policy for future adjustments and to return with that policy before any salary changes are presented.
Calaveras County supervisors on May 13 reviewed an elected‑officials compensation study prepared by Evergreen Solutions and instructed staff to bring a compensation policy for board consideration before implementing any salary changes.
The consultant reviewed peer counties and several approaches to setting or adjusting elected‑official pay, including tying adjustments to state Superior Court increases, averaging peer counties, or using formula-based changes. Stacy Witchell of Evergreen told the board she used a weighted approach that balanced internal equity, local cost-of-living considerations and external market data; she also said figures in the presentation were adjusted during preparation and apologized for a slide showing differing cost estimates.
Board direction and fiscal note: Supervisors directed staff to draft a written policy for how elected‑official compensation will be adjusted in the future (a “policy-first” approach). The board asked that elected positions be considered individually (untied) rather than adjusted as a block, and requested that any future adjustments be capped so they do not exceed average county employee adjustments in a given year. Evergreen’s material estimated that bringing positions nearer to market would cost in the range of tens of thousands of dollars; staff said final budget impacts will be included with the policy.
Why this matters: The study raised compression concerns — that elected official pay can crowd or compress pay ranges for department leadership — and supervisors asked that any changes be coordinated with employee compensation decisions and be sensitive to current budget uncertainty.
Provenance (transcript excerpts): • Topic intro: “Item number 25 is informational item from human resources…receive a presentation from Stacy Witchell with Evergreen Solutions LLC on the elected officials compensation study conducted for the county.” (transcript near 6567–6583). • Topic finish: “So, yes, we are looking for direction and, with bringing back the salary adjustments as recommended by Evergreen, and then also bringing a compensation policy for the elected officials…we will bring the policy back first.” (transcript near 7523–7559).
