Committee Discussing Commissioner Pay Change

The Putnam County Commission’s Rules Committee discussing potential changes to how county commissioners are paid for their work.

Commission Chair Chris Cassetty said commissioners are currently paid two hundred dollars per meeting for a possible total of four hundred dollars per month, an amount that has not changed since 2006. Cassetty said connecting commissioner pay to County Mayor Randy Porter’s salary would make it an apolitical subject moving forward.

“Assuming we do something, and again, at the end of the day tied to (County Mayor Randy Porter’s) salary at some percentage sum, if it’s not a huge change now, hey we’re not really voting for any increase,” Cassetty said. “And then the increase is just, right, the increase is then organic.”

Cassetty said any change would not affect the current commission but it would make things easier for future county officials. Committee members agreed to review the rules for commissioner pay and discuss the matter again in January.

“It’s a touchy thing,” Cassetty said. “None of us do this for money. We do this because we want to help the community. But we need to be fair and reasonable as well. There is time that the commission gladly gives and there is some compensation for that.”

Committee Member Cathy Reel said she voted against the last raise that the county considered of fifty dollars. Reel said it was not worth talking to constituents to ask for such a small amount of money back then.

“Four hundred dollars, a lot of people think that’s a generous fee anyway,” Reel said. “Sometimes we come up here ten minutes, sometimes we’re up here six hours.”

Committee Member Jonathan Williams said commissioner pay should be the same as Porter’s salary split evenly between everyone on the commission. Committee member Grover Bennett Junior said it should be a specific percentage of Porter’s pay so it can be adjusted over time more easily.

“I do not know what Randy (Porter) makes remotely down to the penny,” Cassetty said. “But I just did a little quick math and it came out to about four hundred and thirty-five dollars a month, dividing it by twenty-four.”