Election board secretaries scheduled for hefty raises

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Many of Oklahoma's 77 county election board secretaries are scheduled to receive pay raises totaling almost $273,000 a year at a time when the state is facing its worst financial

Monday, January 13th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Many of Oklahoma's 77 county election board secretaries are scheduled to receive pay raises totaling almost $273,000 a year at a time when the state is facing its worst financial crisis in decades.

The raises _ which range from $800 to $9,327 _ were approved by the Legislature last session and are scheduled to take effect May 1, according to a copyright story in the Sunday editions of The Daily Oklahoman.

Some of the raises are as high as 28.2 percent, the newspaper reported.

Michael Clingman, state election board secretary, said the bill was written to prevent the newly appointed election board secretary in Comanche County from taking a pay cut.

Senate and house bill authors didn't initially recall the legislation that gave election board secretaries raise.

House author Jari Askins, D-Duncan, said she made note that the bill contained a pay increase in a bill summary distributed to House members before they voted.

Senate author Sen. Angela Monson, D-Oklahoma City, inherited authorship of the bill after original Senate author Larry Dickerson died in office, and said she could not speak to the intent of the bill.

If legislators don't like what they've done, they'll be given a chance to change their minds.

``When the Legislature goes back in session, I intend to go back to them and see if that's what they really want to do,'' Clingman said. ``It will be a tight budget year, and it will be up to them.''

If the raises aren't trimmed or canceled, they will cost the state an additional $272,668 a year, Clingman said.

County election board secretaries are selected by their state senators and their salaries are tied to the number of active voters registered.

The state Legislature decided to give raises after voter rolls dropped so significantly in Commanche County that the incoming election secretary would have received a sizable pay cut.

The solution to the problem contained in Senate Bill 1350 was to bump all the county election board secretaries up one salary classification, Clingman said.

The biggest raises _ 28.2 percent _ would go to election board secretaries in Canadian, Creek, Garfield, Kay, Muskogee, Payne, Pittsburg, Pottawatomie, Rogers, Wagoner and Washington counties. Their salaries would jump from $33,046.94 to $42,374.66.

``I'm like everybody else. If I can get a raise, you bet I want one _ but not at the expense of someone else,'' said Garfield County Election Board Secretary Wenona Marshall. ``It's going to be a rough session this year. They've got a lot of financial issues to face.''

Clingman said if the county election board secretaries don't receive raises now, it will be 2005 before they can potentially receive raises again