Chuck Fritts
They haven’t had a raise in more than two decades, and on Monday night, Anderson County commissioners will consider whether to approve a salary increase for the new commission that starts in September.
Commissioners now receive $537.59 per month, or $6,451 each year. That’s what they’ve earned since Fiscal Year 1995-96.
Commissioners last received a salary increase in FY 1992-93, when their pay was raised 1.5 percent to $599 per month, or $7,199 each year.
But their monthly salary was then cut to the current level of $537.59 a few years later, in FY 95-96. There has been no change since.
A resolution to be considered by commissioners tonight (Monday, August 18) would give the new commission that starts in September the same pay raises awarded to all other elected officials, Commission Chair Chuck Fritts said. It would put commissioners on the same “playing field” as other elected officials, said Fritts, who made the proposal. He said commissioners ought to be included when those elected officials receive a raise.
Fritts and Commissioner Robert McKamey, who was acting chair of the Operations Committee when it recently took no action on the proposal, pointed out that the pay raises would likely be small in terms of an absolute increase. For example, a 1 percent salary increase would result in another $5 per month or so for commissioners, they said.
The commission cannot approve raises mid-term, so tonight’s meeting could be the only opportunity to consider a pay raise before the new commission starts next month.
“The sitting term cannot set their own salary,” McKamey said. “What we’re doing is setting the salaries for the commissioners for the next term.”
It’s not clear if there will be any opposition to the proposal, but some commissioners want to discuss it tonight, Fritts said.
Robert McKamey
McKamey said the state determines what raises are received by the county’s elected officials.
“This just brings county commissioners in line with other elected officials,” such as the mayor and sheriff, McKamey said. If those officials don’t receive a raise, commissioners also wouldn’t receive a raise.
McKamey said there was not much discussion of Fritts’ proposal at the Operations Committee. A motion to approve it died for a lack of a second. McKamey and four other commissioners were there. But two of the commissioners, John Shuey and Zach Bates, are leaving the commission (they did not seek re-election) and didn’t want to vote, McKamey said.
The pay raise to be considered tonight is meant to “adequately compensate members for attendance at all county commission and committee meetings by making members of the legislative body eligible for all salary raises given to county officials” under two sections of Tennessee law.
“County Commission is almost like a second full-time job for people who take it seriously,” said Fritts, who won re-election as a commissioner this month but is not seeking re-election as chair in September.
Fritts has been chair for three years. In addition to attending County Commission meetings, Fritts said, he goes to all the major committee meetings. The chair does not receive any extra pay.
McKamey said commissioners are also eligible for health insurance and retirement, and he estimated that possibly five or six commissioners take advantage of that.
Separately, new Anderson County commissioners and elected officials will be sworn in by Criminal and Circuit Court Judge Don Elledge at 9 a.m. Tuesday, September 2, in Criminal Court, which is the center courtroom on the third floor of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. (See the August 7 election results here.)
Commissioners tonight will consider whether to have a special meeting at 10:30 a.m., after the swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, September 2, to elect a chair, vice chair, and nominating committee.
Tonight’s commission meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. Find the consent and regular agendas here.
