By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


The Livingston County Board of Commissioners have preliminarily voted to give themselves a raise starting in January.

A motion came before the county’s Finance Committee Wednesday morning to keep the pay rate at current levels, which have been in place since 2009. Under that structure, commissioners earn $15,326 a year, while the board Chair receives $18,114, and the Vice Chair gets $16,024. But during discussion, several commissioners, led by Jay Drick, said it was past time to raise the compensation levels. "If the county was in the red now, I'd say freeze. If the employees had not gotten raises, I'd say freeze. Neither of those is true. In fact, our website says we have twenty-seven million and our county administrator in his summary page says our general fund balance has exceeded the target, we've got sufficient contingency funds, and so, in my brain, this is a conservative move to redress 11 straight years of wage erosion by inflation."

An amendment was then proposed by Commissioner Bill Green, who did not run for re-election and will finish his term at the end of the month, to raise the pay for Board Chair to $20,000, Vice-Chair to $18,500 and Commissioners to $17,000. That would equate to an increase of just over 11% on average. However, it was voted down 5-4, with Commissioner Kate Lawrence saying the time and manner of the proposal was not right. "The fact that we have already approved our budget, it just doesn't pass the smell test to me and when I think of people right now that don't even have enough money to put food on their table, I just cannot say 'Boy commissioners, you've done a great job.' I just can't do that right now."

Joining Lawrence in voting that amendment down were Commissioners Carol Griffith, Gary Childs, Wes Nakagiri and Doug Helzerman. Commissioners Drick, Green, Bob Bezotte and Jay Gross voted in favor. Childs, the board’s lone Democrat, said the notion that commissioners should get an increase because they voted to give the county’s full-time employees one, missed the point of how they should be classified and he believed that was an issue worth further study. "It seems like some people are bent on having equal compensation with the employees, which we help set their salaries and pay structure and such. Moving forward in two years, I would suggest that the board of commissioners be looked completely at as the part-time employees, which we are...that we should receive all the part-time compensation or lack thereof, including health insurance."

But that idea was quickly dismissed by Commissioner Gross, who said the raise was overdue and that they deserved the additional compensation. "We are paid at a rate of $7.83 an hour for a 40 hour week and so regardless of the amount of time we put in, and some of us definitely put in a lot more than others, that suggests to me that we are not part-time, but rather we are in fact being paid as full-time employees."

The original motion to retain the current salaries was then put up for a vote, but defeated, also 5-4, with Commissioners Gross, Bezotte, Drick, Green and Helzerman opposed. Commissioner Bezotte then proposed a third amendment to raise the compensation level by an average of 8.4% so that the Board Chair would get $19,000, the Vice-Chair $18,500 and commissioners would be paid $16,500. That then passed 5-4 with Commissioner Helzerman providing the swing vote in favor, while Board Chair Carol Griffith and Vice Chair Kate Lawrence, were joined by Commissioners Childs and Nakagiri in opposition.

Afterward, during the call to the public, Meghan Reckling, who serves as Chair of the Livingston County Republican Party, addressed the board and urged them to reconsider the idea of a raise with the current state of the economy. "The last time the state was facing a recession, in the late 2010 time, the Michigan legislature led by example by asking for and passing a 10% pay reduction, not a pay increase. I think that our elected officials here in Livingston County should follow the example led by the Democratic Oakland County Board of Commissioners and reject a pay raise for themselves. I understand that we have given the employees of Livingston County a pay raise, but I think with the economic times that our state is facing, the Livingston County Board of Commissioners should lead by example and maintain the same salary that they have today."

Joining her in expressing discontent was 6th District Commissioner-elect Mitchell Zajac, who will be replacing Commissioner Bezotte in January. "I don't view, personally anyways, the role of commissioner as a traditional job. I believe strongly in our chief mission to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. I echo again the comments regarding the budgetary issues around the state and the opportunity to lead by example and also I echo the notion that the very strong financial hardships that many in our county are facing likewise, between their employment as well as their business ownership, being without work some of them and some of them losing their businesses in general. So again, I urge my future colleagues and predecessors to reject the pay increase." Bezotte won election on November 3rd to replace the term-limited State Representative Hank Vaupel for the 47th State House District.

Commissioner Green has since contacted WHMI to further explain his rationale for proposing the pay increase, but also to refute those who spoke against it. Here is his statement in full: "All commissioners voted for a 2.25 raise at Livingston County for all employees in Late September this includes all county wide elected officials I currently make 15,326 a year and have received no raise since becoming a commissioner in 2013. I will not be a commissioner next year so a raise will not affect me. Its my opinion the issues raised by some commissioners and the chair of the republican party is nothing more than a political stunt."

We asked Reckling for a response to Green's statement and she said that she, "spoke at the Board of Commissioners meeting yesterday as a resident and taxpayer of Livingston County. I have no additional comments to make at this time."

The resolution now moves to the full board for a final vote at their meeting next Monday.