Supervisors vote to give themselves pay raise

Three county supervisors voted to give themselves a pay raise, the second pay raise in three months, on Friday, with no discussion during the public meeting. 

District 5 Supervisor Paul Griffin made the motion for the pay raise and Board President Gerald Steen looked to District 4 Supervisor Karl Banks to second, with Banks responding, “I ain’t got nothing to do with that.”

Steen ultimately seconded the motion himself and the motion passed unanimously. 

District 1 Supervisor Casey Brannon and District 2 Supervisor Trey Baxter were absent from the meeting. 

Supervisors have voted to increase their pay several times amounting to a nearly 20 percent increase since 2020. 

In January 2020, supervisors voted to increase their pay for the first time since 2003, thanks to legislation passed by the Legislature in 2019. Then, supervisors voted to increase their pay from $45,700 to $47,071 annually. 

In 2022, Senate Bill 2719 allowed supervisors in a county with a total assessed valuation of $2 billion to have a salary not to exceed $54,000. 

On Oct. 2, 2023, supervisors voted to increase their salary to the statutory limit of $54,000. 

Senate Bill 2719 also allowed for an increase of up to $2,000 beginning in January 2024, which supervisors approved on Friday, bringing their new salary up to $56,000 per year.

Pending new legislation, supervisors will be unable to increase their salary until January 2028, when they can increase their pay by another $2,000 per year.