Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Some salaries rising as much as 10% this year
COLFAX — The Whitman County Citizens Comission adjusted salaries for all elected officials in June, with nearly all comissioned positions recieving a 10% increase for the 2023 year.
County Comissioners signed on to their salaries at a June comissioner meeting that left many confused about the pay increase they, and many others, recieved.
The wage increase follow an auditor’s report showing a 7% salary increase last year, excluding the sheriff who recieved a 10% cost of living adjustment last year.
Commisioners, for example, went from an annual salary of about $74,430 in 2021 to $76,400 in 2022.
“Every year, they [Whitman County Citizens’ Comission members] look at salaries for all elected officials and they do it for eveyone,” County Commission Chairman Tom Handy said. “We dont have any say in it. They have their own meetings and make their own descisions.”
Handy represents Whitman County District No. 2.
The 2023 salary adjustments, which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2023, as as follows:
Commissioners $87,604
Assessor $92,014
Auditor $92,014
Clerk $92,014
Treasurer $92,014
Sheriff $129,964
*Prosecutor $71,285
Coroner $93,202
The prosecuting attorney’s salary is a combination of both state and county funding. Whitman County’s portion of the salary started at $61,516 in 2021.
With the COLA (cost of living adjustment) in 2021, the prosecuting attorney’s salary rose to $65,822 in 2022.
The cost of living adjustment was expressed as a percentage of salaries established for the elcted officials in the ajustment year and subsequent years, reports say.
The offical auditor’s reported the comission utilized cost of living data collected from non-represented employees, the courthouse, road and solid waste bargaining units, Correction Officers and Support Staff, and the Deputy Sheriff Association. The comission used the six Whitman County employee and
labor groups, as well as cost of living increases determined by the Consumer Price Index, to determine the applicable cost of living adjustment for the elected officals.
The sheriff recieves the highest salary compared to any other elected position in Whitman County.
The current members of the Whitman County Citizens’ Comission on Salaries for Elected Officials are:
Chairman Darren Jones, legal professoinal James Onstad, Eric Reiber representing organized labor, Jamilee Gecas for professional personnel managment, Tina Page and John Snyder from Comissioner District No. 1, Darren Alred and Gary Schell from Comissioner District No. 2, and Heidi Clarke and Marcia Saneholtz from Comissioner District No. 3.
Olivia Harnack is a Journalist at the Whitman County Gazette. Olivia is enrolled at University of Idaho and is majoring in digital film studies. She serves in the United States Army National Guard and is proud to serve Whitman County.
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