County officials give themselves raises

Friday, December 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Officials in 18 out of 19 northeastern Oklahoma county governments have voted themselves pay raises in recent months ranging from as little as $50 per month to $20,000 a year.

Only Delaware County opted not to raise salaries for elected officials. Others decided to take a moderate approach to improving their standard of living.

Pawnee County Clerk Marcelee Welch will only get an $1,800 raise starting in January _ up to $25,800. Elected officials in Wagoner and Muskogee counties gave themselves raises of $10,000 and $20,000 per year.

Tulsa County officials approved a $7,000 raise this week that will elevate them to about $77,000 annually, tops in the area. Oklahoma County officials took pay raises of $12,000 and $6,000 annually to even themselves all out at $83,000 per year.

Rogers County is in the middle of that pack. Back in 1998, four elected officials had their salaries elevated by $2,400 to around $40,350, Commissioner Gerry Payne said. This year, the other four got pay raises of $4,800, bringing their income to roughly $43,000 annually, he said.

On Jan. 1, the salary for any Okmulgee County elected official beginning a new term will be around $39,500, which amounts to about a $3,500 increase, Commissioner Roger Ballenger said.

Taking into account the new term, that means Ballenger will have had only two raises in 14 years, he said.

``The public hears about a 20 percent raise, and they think that sounds way out of line,'' Ballenger said. ``But it's not the whole story. I'm sympathetic to taxpayers, too. But there aren't as many bad guys in here as some people think.''

In Creek County, the newly elected officials' salary will be brought up to around $41,000, commensurate to the roughly $4,200 pay raise the other elected officials received a couple of years ago, Commissioner Dana Hudgins said.

In 1998, the county gave all its employees a 10 percent raise.

``If you're talking about a private sector business, someone who's in charge of a $10 million to $15 million annual budget, you will not find any executives who will work for $30,000 to $50,000 a year,'' Hudgins said. ``If you find anybody, you won't find anybody of quality.

A state law enacted in 1998 allows counties to give elected officials raises of up to $20,000 annually. Many of those counties _ including Tulsa County _ unsuccessfully tried to gain that full amount two years ago, but settled for lesser raises.

The smallest raise probably was in Adair County. As of Jan. 1, elected officials there will be making $29,825, only a $600 annual lift for some of them.

Jean Fishinghawk, Adair County first deputy clerk, said the modesty came easy.

``We don't have the money,'' Fishinghawk said. ``Our courthouse is about to fall down.''

Salaries in Nowata County were bumped up $1,440 annually in November, County Clerk Teresa Jackson said. Still, elected officials there make only $21,474 a year, the lowest salary of any of the counties surveyed, she said.

Ottawa County officials voted for a 5 percent increase to $25,800 annually. That pay raise only matched what all county hands were receiving.