County to set salaries for three officials

By Kevin O’Brien

Three of Marathon County’s elected officials – county clerk, treasurer, and register of deeds – will be up for reelection this fall, but before that happens, county board members need to set salaries for those positions going into their next four-year terms.

Members of the Human Resources, Finance and Personnel Committee had an initial discussion last week about how to properly set those wages before April 15, which is the date when candidates can start circulating nomination papers to be on the ballot.

Currently, county clerk Kim Trueblood earns $83,422 per year, treasurer Connie Beyersdorf earns $73,351 and register of deeds Dean Stratz earns $68,722. These salaries were set in 2016. A proposal to increase the salaries was brought to the board in 2020, but it was rejected, so they have remained the same for the past eight years.

In a memo to the committee, director of human resources Molly Adzic laid out two basic methods for determining the elected officials’ new salaries. One is to look at what other counties pay similar officials, and the other is to focus on the county’s internal pay scale, comparing the officials’ salaries to other jobs with “similar levels of exposure, responsibility, and complexity within the county government.”

Adzic said the county has typically compared elected officials’ salaries with those

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of their counterparts in other counties, but HR would also consider the compensation of the county’s own department heads and deputies who serve underneath the elected officials.

Supervisor John Robinson said other counties he’s looked at have used a combination of external and internal comparisons when setting salaries for elected officials. He noted that constitutional officers such as county clerk, treasurer, and register of deeds have a harder time moving to similar positions in different counties because they must get elected; whereas, their deputies have more mobility.

Robinson said the county board should make sure there is “sufficient separation” in salaries between the elected officials and their deputies so the elected officials are paid more for carrying out their constitutional duties. Board chairman Kurt Gibbs said that’s been an issue before with the sheriff’s department, where some of the non-elected employees ended up being paid more than the sheriff.

Supervisor Kody Hart noted that positions like chief of police or municipal clerk can offer alternatives to potential candidates that do not require running for election.

“We want to make sure we have a salary that’s comparable because it’s a position you don’t necessarily have to campaign for,” he said.

County administrator Lance Leonhard pointed out that salaries for the three positions under consideration have been frozen since 2016, since the board opted not to approve raises in 2020.

“This group of elected officials hasn’t seen an increase throughout their entire terms,” he said. “I’ll be very clear: we’re going to bring a recommendation to you that will have – unless you direct us otherwise – growth within the four-year term. There will be a salary increase in each of those years, absent some direction to the contrary.”

Unlike with other county employees, Robinson said the board does not have the option to provide merit-based pay raises to elected officials, so there’s no way to reward those who go above and beyond in their positions.

Gibbs suggested matching the 3 percent annual raises given to other county employees. Adzic said something similar was done in 2022, when the board established new annual salaries for the sheriff and clerk of courts.

When supervisor Gayle Marschall questioned the need for outside consultants to be involved in the process, Adzic said the consultants can offer a much deeper analysis of what each county’s elected official does, rather than just a simple side-by-side salary comparison.

“Not all jobs with the same job title are actually the same job, in terms of duties necessary to do that job,” she said.

Ultimately, the committee agreed to take a “blended” approach when considering new salaries, taking into account both internal salary ranges and those offered by other counties. The full board will need to set the new salaries at its March meeting, a month before candidates can start circulating nomination papers.

Other business

n The committee recommended a $1,000 payment to the National Association of Counties (NACo), which helped the county obtain a $50,000 grant through the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund (LATCF). The LATCF grants are used to help the county cover the costs of federal land within its boundaries, which includes an old military radar site in the town of Harrison. The $1,000 payment represents 1 percent of the grant amount.

n The committee voted to have the county get appraisals done on two old county-owned parking lots in the city of Wausau, in preparation for possibly selling them to the city. The committee previously asked administrators to develop requests for proposals (RFPs) for developers, but since then, Wausau’s development director approached the county about the city redeveloping the lots for housing.