The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday morning, reviewed a recommendation from the County Compensation Board, who suggested a five-percent pay raise for Elected Officials. The Supervisors did not take any action on the recommendation during their meeting, but when it comes time to making a decision during the budgeting process, they may choose to accept the Compensation Board’s recommendation, or reduce the percentage, but they cannot go above the recommended amount. Regardless of which way they choose to act, the percentage must be the same for each of the elected officials.

Supervisor Mark O’Brien pointed out that in the last 10-years, the Board of Supervisors has approved a combined 23.5-percent in pay raises. During the same time, the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Federal Employees has been around 13-percent. He said Cass County has given more raises than the national government. A trend toward population decline, he said, means less people will assume the tax burden for the pay increases.

The Supervisors agreed to inform elected officials that they may base their budgets on a 2.8-percent increase, at least for now, but again no official action will be taken until they begin work on the FY2020 budget.