Raise recommended for 3 elected Wasco County officials

Three Wasco County elected officials would get a 2.5 percent pay increase this year based on recommendations of the compensation committee.

The County Clerk Lisa Gambee, County Assessor Jill Filla Amery and Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill all will see an increase if the budget committee and County Commissioners accept the recommendation.

Gambee’s proposed salary would go to $77,018.64; Filla Amery, $88,551.36; and Magill, $94,307.52. Magill also receives a $10,000 stipend for additional responsibilities of community corrections and 911 dispatch.

The remaining four elected officials have maxed out on the salary matrix schedule and will not receive step salary raises. Commissioners Kathleen Schwartz, Scott Hege and Steven Kramer are scheduled to receive $47,680.08; County Treasurer Elijah Preston, $33,630.14.

Review of salaries is required annually by state statute, and they occurred a week ago. The Wasco County Compensation Committee is made up of Mike Woodside, Jorge Barragan and John Hutchison.

Hutchison said their committee compared salaries against those of other elected officials in similar-sized counties and found salaries were in the “mid-range.”

“We need to balance our fiscal responsibility and also be highly cognisant of salaries,” he said. “We kept salaries reasonable, not high or low, just reasonable… Point is that the county is fiscally frugal.”