ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Monday, July 20, Seward County commissioners voted to approve a notice of intention to exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate for the county for Fiscal Year 2027.

That same night, the commission voted unanimously to approve a readjustment in the pay scale for the Seward County Treasurer’s office for the five positions the office employs.

Treasurer Mary Rose said the adjustment would have no impact to the county’s general fund, as wages in her department come from the treasurer’s fund which ultimately comes from the Kansas Department of Revenue.

“There are strict guidelines and regulations what can be used for that,” she said. “Compensation is one of those that can be used from that.”

Rose said the $15 starting baseline implemented by the 2024 commission inadvertently triggered severe wage compression across her entire office.

“I did have staff who had been there and tenured, and they were at $16 an hour,” she said. “Once that inadvertently happened, it did put a 10-year scale as to somebody coming at $15 and off the street to somebody who’s been there for 10, 12 years at $16. Realigning that and adjusting that pay scale would help keep that tenure.”

Rose said she constructed a five-year plan moving foward to itemize wages to stay within the KDOR guidelines.

Under the adjusted pay scale, clerks and treasurer’s clerks would make $19 an hour minimum and $24 an hour maximum. Treasurer’s clerks pay would range from $25 to $30 an hour, with deputy treasurers making $31 to $36 an hour. Rose herself would be making between $37 and $42 an hour.

“Starting out and moving up as the positions move up, I would ask we accept that pay scale adjustment moving forward,” she said. “If I have to hire anybody, HR is able to know where we restart that position at.”

Rose said the treasurer’s office currently employs nine people, and when she started in the department more than a decade ago, some of these people were hired because they spoke Spanish, with others hired because they had higher education titling and tagging.

“They started out 50 cents more,” she said. They worked from $8, $9, $10 an hour. Over the years, that’s not be able to be followed, and I feel this scale would allow me and HR to sit down and say this person has this much education, this much tenure. They speak Spanish. They write Spanish. This is the job duties they entail, and that would coincide with the job duties as well as the pay. Also, I am having issues hiring in the department because other departments are starting out at $17, $18, $19 an hour, and we do not.”

Rose said she has reviewed the pay restructure with Human Resources Director Angela Johnston.

Commission Chairman Steve Helm said numbers provided by local resident Carolyn Huddleston showed the treasurer’s office is $74,000 over budget, but Rose said commissioners had been provided numbers from CIC.

“I’m just looking at what she prepared,” Helm said. “My opinion is we table this until we go through budget work session.”

“I did submit my budget, and I did not have any changes in the budget to the general,” Rose said. “The total for the compensation for personnel was staying at $245,000.”

“These funds that are coming from the state are actually under your purview, not ours, and you were allowed to distribute them as you see fit,” Commission Vice Chairman Todd Stanton said.

“I still have to follow the policies and procedures in place for compensation,” Rose said.

While he had no problem with the adjustment, Stanton still felt the item should be included with the rest of the county’s budget when it is voted on later this year.

Commissioner Jairo Vazquez asked Rose how compensation had been distributed in the past.

“Is it mostly towards you?” Vazquez said. “Has it been evenly throughout? How do you make that process? I cannot how the process happens.”

“The treasurer’s fund has historically had an excess end on Dec. 31,” Rose said. “There was a deficit in payroll in 2023, 2024 and 2025. I was then able to move the money from the payroll, from the treasurer’s fund to cover the deficit that happened in the general fund because of the budget error that happened and also the pay raise that was happening in 2023. There was a 3 percent pay raise. The budgets were not amended, and that also caused a deficit on the general fund. I was able to cover that. I cannot go in and just give my girls a bonus. I can’t do that because bonuses are not allowed through that. I can’t go in and do that because it’s not allowed. I have to follow the policies and procedures that are put in place by the commission for the pay.”

Rose said historically, money has been in place to cover compensation.

“I have changes going on in my office, and I’m asking for this pay scale change so I can be within line of other departments that are within the county to pay them a competitive rate,” she said. “I have girls in my office who are working two or three jobs because they’re only making minimum wage, which the county deems at $15 an hour. I’m asking to be put on a competitive wage and for the treasurer’s fund to cover that because whatever’s left over, I have to turn over to the general fund at a certain date to cover personnel expenses.”

Vazquez asked Rose if there was specific benefit of approving the adjustment now as opposed to waiting until budget time.

“I do have announcements I need to make today, and I would very much like to have this voted on today,” Rose said.

Commissioner Clay Louderback said he did not disagree with the adjustments, and he wanted wages to be uniform throughout the county. In order to do this, however, he said commissioners cannot pick and choose which departments get raises.

Louderback too pointed to the current balance in the treasurer’s office at $45,000, the same amount as the impact of the pay scale adjustment.

“You show you expect $70,000 to come in, but you have not received it yet,” he said.

Rose said with money coming into the department on a daily basis, the amount in the balance is enough to cover her payroll from Aug. 3 through Dec. 31.

“That’s there in that fund,” she said. “It historically comes in every single day through motor vehicle.”

Helm said the adjustment would increase the treasurer’s office FY 2027 budget by $110,000, but Rose said that is not the case because she is not using money from the general fund.

“I’m hitting the treasurer’s fund, and I historically get $146,000 from the treasurer’s fund,” Rose said.

Administrator April Warden said discussions at last year’s budget work sessions took place regarding the treasurer’s fund, a 510 account, as that is where the money comes from for compensations.

“It was questioned at that time,” she said. “She’s paying one individual out of that fund right now. Historically, more of her clerks have paid a percentage of their wages out of that fund, and last year, she was able to transfer $80,000 to help offset her payroll in her office at budget work sessions time.”

Warden said Rose noted she is expecting to be able to transfer another $80,000 this year to offset wages.

“There was some discussion that you were concerned about the 510 balance being down some because you’re not doing as many transactions or there’s more online transactions done now,” Warden said. “Historically, yes, people have been paid from 510 more than once. There’s one right now, but she transferred money to offset some of the wages she can pay out of there with their job pertaining to motor vehicle.”

Rose said she was asking the pay scale to take effect Aug. 3 with no changes to the general fund.

Louderback emphasized the commission needs to stop singling out departments for raises. Rose said with raises approved now, her department can be taken out of the 3 percent across the board raise planned for in this year’s budget.

“I think that’s only fair,” Rose said. “What I’m asking is these other departments have come in front of you to ask to increase their starting wage. That’s technically what I’m doing for each of these. The problem is your county treasurer makes $28 an hour. I have a deputy who comes in at $27 – a dollar less than me – so I can’t go through and bump all these people up and meet them to exactly what it has to be. You have to move everybody in the whole department.”

Stanton made the motion to approve the pay scale adjustments, adding the money would not come taxpayer dollars or ad valorem taxes.

“These are purely from the treasurer’s fund,” he said. “They’re tax dollars from the state, but they’re coming from the state.”

“I think everyone ought to be raised, but It’s under the stipulation we don’t pick and choose from here on,” Louderback said.

“I totally agree with that, and I understand where you’re coming from with that,” Rose said.

Helm asked what Rose’s wage would be under the new pay scale.

“It would be the minimum, which I think was $37,” Rose said.

“Effectively a $10 an hour raise,” Helm said.

“Are you saying I’m not worth it?” Rose said. “I’m just saying that’s what the raise is – $37 an hour – and I am salary.”

“I will say I was kind of shocked when I found out what your hourly wage for your position truly was,” Stanton said.

The commission voted 4-0 with Commissioner John Mettlen absent to approve the pay scale.