County supervisors decline pay increase; slash recommended raises for other elected officials

The Jasper County Compensation Board met last month and had recommended raises for all the county elected officials, including 4 percent for the county attorney and county sheriff, 3 percent for the supervisors and a $2,000 stipend for the board chairman.

“Times have been tough, and we’ve asked people to cut back,” supervisor Denny Stevenson said. “So we should start leadership from the front.”

He moved to accept no increase in salaries for the supervisors, which passed unanimously.

In addition, board chairman Joe Brock moved to decline the $2,000 stipend for himself, which passed unanimously. The supervisors will each receive $41,200 for fiscal year 2012-13.

The supervisors also voted to cut back on the Compensation Board’s recommendations by half for the other elected officials, giving a 2 percent raise to the sheriff and county attorney, and a 1.5 percent raise to the auditor, recorder and treasurer.

With the increases, the salaries for the Jasper County Sheriff will be $87,920.47; Jasper County Attorney will increase to $97,863.39; and county auditor, recorder and treasurer will increase to $62,091.37.

Economic Development

The City of Newton terminated a development agreement last December with Newton Foods and Fuels, which had planned on building a restaurant/convenience store in the Prairie Fire Economic Development Area directly south of the former Prairie Gas.

The developer indicated that the bids had come in too high, and had decided not to build a Wendy’s/convenience store on the site at this time.

In accordance with that termination by the city, the Jasper County Board of Supervisors agreed during Tuesday’s meeting not to pursue prosecution of appeal of the 2011 assessment. The lot is currently empty, and the lot will now revert to the fair market value.

In other action Tuesday, the supervisors:

• Agreed to waive a building permit and inspection fees for a new wastewater treatment plant planned for Prairie City. Planning and Zoning Director Larry Ryan told the supervisors that the engineering firm for the project was responsible for all required inspections and inspection on his part would be redundant. Ryan will conduct an electrical inspection, however.

• Approved payment of $65,969.90 as second payment to Two Rivers Group Inc. for work on the courthouse heating and cooling system.