Compensation group sets raises higher for county officers after cost-of-living rates questioned

OTTAWA COUNTY — The Ottawa County Officers' Compensation Commission made salary determinations on May 18 for elected officials in the county for the next two years, making the group's work complete — until new questions arose about how the determinations incorporated cost-of-living adjustments for county commissioners.

The compensation commission met for a fourth time on June 3 to revisit how the COLA adjustments would be calculated after a county commissioner raised concerns about leaving the amount open-ended for the board of commissioners to determine later this year for 2027 and next year for 2028.

A short, yet long process

The commission is a citizen-appointed board, where participants serve three-year terms. Formed in late 2005 in Ottawa County, the commission is charged with making determinations for the pay of county elected officials in even-numbered years that go into effect in the following odd-numbered years.

State statute requires that the compensation commission must complete its work within 45 days of its first session and may not meet for more than 15 "session" days; all meetings and actions by the commission also must be in compliance with Michigan’s Open Meetings Act. 

The latest determinations came after an intense focus on transparency and the public process, a result of the ill-fated 2024 determinations that proposed a 60% salary increase for county commissioners.

Those determinations were later rescinded in the wake of widespread media coverage and intense community pushback over the county's handling of the process, including improperly noticed meetings, not keeping meeting minutes and meeting outside the statutory limitation of 45 days.

Read More: Compensation group votes to increase county board pay by over 65%, doles out $265K in raises

A final tweak

At the June 3 meeting, the compensation commission determined not to leave COLA up to the county commissioners later this year, and set the increases to be 4% and 3% over the next two years, respectively.

The latest revision came after Commissioner Doug Zylstra voiced concerns about leaving portions of officials' compensation open-ended until later in the year.

The county board annually determines COLA increases for non-union employees during the budget process each fall. Zylstra said the board weighing in on its own compensation would put commissioners in an awkward position.

"My concern was twofold," Zylstra said. "One, a compensation committee determines compensation. The board is not supposed to determine compensation. If you leave a COLA in there, you are, in whatever small measure, allowing the board to determine its own commission compensation.

A larger concern, he said, is that the commission's work might not be viewed as complete if legally challenged.

"The more important concern is state statute says the compensation committee will determine compensation for the officers, and my concern was, if you have an undetermined COLA that is breaking state statute, because you're not actually determining salary, it is undetermined ... and you're leaving it up to something else," he said.

"Leaving it undetermined is breaking the word 'determined.' State statute says: 'You must determine,' and if you're leaving it undetermined, I could see a judge saying no. So it's just simply the word 'determined.' What does it mean? Does it mean that you've put in place a formula to determine later, or does it mean you know down to the penny what each officer will be costing the taxpayer?"

This year's June 3 determinations were the final ones allowed this cycle, as the compensation commission's 45-day window ended on June 6. The timing of when the next compensation commission meets, however, is not clear after state law set county commissioner terms to four years (from two) beginning in 2025.

Raises increased

With the determinations of fixed COLA amounts, the overall total increases to county officers over the next two years will total more than $285,000 — nearly $19,000 more than the determinations the previous month.

The compensation commission voted to give the biggest increases to county commissioners, who are poised to receive 65% increases.

Compensation commissioners this year voted unanimously to increase county commissioner pay by an even larger amount — from $20,884 to $30,000 in 2027, plus an annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. The commissioners will then receive a $5,000 raise to their base pay in 2028, plus another COLA.

The second-largest increase was determined for the water resources commissioner, which received a $12,000 increase in 2027 and COLA increases in that year as well as 2028.

Read More: ‘Shoveling sh!t’: Officials point to Ottawa Impact for new kerfuffle over compensation commission

By the numbers

Sheriff

• May determination: $186,951.06
• June determination: $189,781.95
• Increase: $2,830.89

Prosecutor

• May determination: $211,415.46
• June determination: $214,622.01
• Increase: $3,206.55

Clerk-Register of Deeds

• May determination: $158,250
• June determination: $160,680
• Increase: $2,430

Treasurer

• May determination: $149,665.32
• June determination: $151,936.95
• Increase: $2,271.63

Water Resources Commissioner

• May determination: $142,757.77
• June determination: $148,829.31
• Increase: $6,071.54

Road Commissioners

Chair

• May determination: $864.22
• June determination: $1,103.60
• Increase: $239.38

Commissioners

• May determination: $696.95
• June determination: $890
• Increase: $193.05

County Commissioners

Chair

• May determination: $47,367.75
• June determination: $47,998
• Increase: $630.25

Vice Chair

• May determination: $42,088.99
• June determination: $42,642
• Increase: $553.01

Commissioners

• May determination: $36,810.19
• June determination: $37,286
• Increase: $475.81

Totals

• Total increases as of May 18: $266,264.85
• New COLA determinations: $18,902.11
• New total increases as of June 3: $285,166.96

What happens next

The determinations will now be forwarded to the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners for consideration.

County Administrator Patrick Waterman said at the board of commissioners' May 19 meeting that the determinations will appear on the next board of commissioners' meeting agenda, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 23.

In their consideration, the county commissioners have three options on how to respond:

• Reject the determinations of the compensation commission in whole or in part by a two-thirds majority. 
• Accept the determinations.
• Do nothing, in which case, the determinations by the compensation commission will go into effect the following year by default.

— Sarah Leach is the executive editor of the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at sleach@ottawanewsnetwork.org. Follow her on Twitter @ONNLeach.