By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – Berrien County Commissioners approved two percent pay raises for themselves and other elected county officials last week despite concerns from some about doing so in the midst of a pandemic.
The board vote came after County Board Chairman Mac Elliott noted that according to state law, the county board can only vote on pay raises in the period between the general election and the first of the year every two years.
He reported that County Corporate Counsel Judge John Dewane advised county commissioners on the matter and quoted the applicable state law. State law requires changes in compensation for county elected officials can only take place after the county board general election-Nov. 3 this year-and before the new term starts on Jan. 1.
Besides the 12 county commissioners, others getting the two percent increase are the county prosecutor, county sheriff, county clerk, county drain commissioner, county treasurer and county register of deeds.
Elliott also noted that the giving county elected officials a two percent pay raise in both 2021 and 2022 would cost the county less than $20,000 each year. In contrast, the county’s 2021 general fund budget is over $50 million. He said the two percent raise for elected officials amounted to 5/100,000th of the budget.
Concerns were raised last week by two commissioners, Bill Chickering and Teri Freehling. Chickering did not run for re-election and Freehling was among the commissioners elected to new two-year terms earlier this month. Both voted no on the pay raise resolution.
“It’s good that I’m a lame duck,” Chickering said. “I’d suggest we be caution and do the increase for 2021 and withhold it for 2022. Everything is very much up in the air with budgets. You could go through the budget process next fall before you decide what to do in 2022. Who knows what kind of increase can be afforded as we sit here today?”
“What I’m raising is about the public and employee perception rather than the costs,” he added. “We’re doing a two percent increase two years out when we don’t know what employee costs will look like then. There should be personnel expenses that cut across everyone.”
Freehling agreed. “I would urge caution due to what we might facing with the budget, I would hold off for 2022 until we know what will happen,” she said.
She initially said she thought past practice had county commissioners voting on pay raises for county elected officials every year instead once every two years for the following two years. She then reviewed past resolutions that had commissioners approving pay raises for the next two years and corrected her position.
Elliott and others acknowledged that the symbolism might not look good but that if they limited the pay raise to just 2021, it would keep elected officials from getting a raise in 2022 since county commissioners can’t go back and vote it in next year.
County Board Vice-Chairman Ezra Scott said he agreed with some of Chickering’s and Freehling’s concerns but noted that the county board can rescind the pay raise next fall if it’s necessary.
“I agree that we’re in unprecedented times and I think everyone realizes that 2022 will be the leaner year,” he said. “If this does pass today for the two years, I believe the board has the authority to amend the budgetary process for any year regardless of whether we approve this or not.”
“I do believe that we have to do something by the end of the year per statute,” he added. “We can go with the flow depending on how things are going and also see what the thoughts of the other elected officials are. Right now, we don’t know what the 2022 budget will be like.”
Elliott said the board does have flexibility. “We can amend the budget at a later date,” he said. “But once January comes, we can’t change the pay for that year. We can change the pay for 2022 anytime during 2021.”
County Human Resources Director Shelley Jasper reminded commissioners that the county board faced a similar situation nearly two decades ago in the 2001-03 period. “Everyone realized the budget difficulties then and the six elected officials came to the board and asked to forego the raise,” she said.
County Administrator Brian Dissette reminded commissioners that the budget situation isn’t dire yet. He said that although the 2021 budget is a deficit one, the fund balance will actually grow in 2020 due to the influence of federal CARES act pandemic funding.
The county board action came at the close of a meeting that featured words of caution from two area health officials about the current pandemic situation. Berrien County Health Officer Nicki Britten and Spectrum Health Lakeland President Loren Hamel apprised the board of where the county is now in terms of the pandemic.
Both said that the increasing number of positive COVID-19 tests each week and higher test positivity rates represent “the making of a very serious outbreak.” He said the test positivity rate was under five percent in the summer and is now well above 20 percent.
Britten said the trends of more positive tests and more people sick that has been seen at the Spectrum Health Lakeland hospitals is also being seen in the general community.
“We’re sitting at the point of having over 140 new cases coming per day and we’re on the path to exceed that,” she said. “The number of cases is doubling every 10 to 14 days and we’re on the path to have 200 cases per day by Thanksgiving and it could be 400 cases per day two weeks after that.”
She said the county has also seen an increase in the number of COVID deaths, right now primarily from a skilled nursing facility where that had been an outbreak. Similarly, Hamel said the number of people hospitalized with COVID is now at over 60 which is three times as high as the average of 20 or so hospitalized COVID patients in May and June.
Britten, Hamel and other county leaders penned an open letter to the community last week, urging people to take the pandemic seriously and follow safe health practices such as wearing masks, social distancing, following proper hygiene, cleaning surfaces and not gathering in large groups. Doing those things will slow the transmission and flatten the curve, they said.
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