BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- State lawmakers are admitting they didn't know all the facts when they voted on a hefty pay increase for county officials during the recently completed Kentucky General Assembly session.
But Northern Kentucky legislators still say the raises of as much as 61 percent are deserved for county judge-executives, clerks, jailers and sheriffs.
"I don't know if anybody who voted realized we were talking about $30,000 raises in some cases," Rep. Tom Kerr, D-Taylor Mill, said Friday.
"If I had known the exact figures, I would have preferred to see the raises phased in," he said. "But it's really our responsibility to know. I can't pass the buck."
The bill was voted on during the last week of the legislative session, when it's not uncommon for lawmakers to vote on dozens of bills over just a few hours.
"No, I wasn't aware it has that big of an increase, and I probably should have looked at the bill a little closer," said Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Erlanger.
"But there didn't seem to be much opposition to the bill," which passed 36-1 in the Senate. "And there wasn't much discussion about it."
Still, lawmakers say county officials from larger counties are deserving of raises larger than those in smaller counties. "You have to compensate people at a level that will maintain the quality of the office," said House Majority Caucus Chairman Jim Callahan, D-Wilder. "A lot of these people haven't had raises in years. And a county official handling 100 employees in a big county like Jefferson County, or even Kenton or Campbell counties, deserves more money than a county official overseeing 10 employees in a small county," he said.
The raises take effect next year. In a small county like Robertson County, the judge-executive will get a raise of $18,500.
But in Campbell County, the judge-executive pay will jump from about $49,000 to nearly $75,000.
Kenton County Clerk Bill Aylor's salary will jump from $48,726 to $78,481, about $10,000 more than the judge-executive's new salary. Now, the clerk and judge-executive in Kenton County, along with the jailer and sheriff, all make the same.
Mr. Aylor's raise is based in part because of his years of service to the county. He has worked for Kenton County for almost 30 years. "A person who has worked for the county for 25 years should probably get paid more than a new hire," Mr. Aylor said. "I've always accepted my pay here, from when it was $400 a month when I started in the sheriff's office in 1971 -- and I'll accept what it will be next year."
Mr. Kerr said he believes officials like Mr. Aylor and Kenton County Jailer Don Younger were underpaid.
Mr. Kerr said somebody with the responsibilities of Mr. Younger -- 80 employees and an annual budget of $4.3 million -- could probably make six figures for a similar job in the private sector.
"But a $30,000-a-year raise is too much at once," Mr. Kerr said. "We should have looked at this closer."
Mr. Callahan stopped short of laying the blame on legislative staff, but he said it would have been "nice" to receive more information about the raises. Lawmakers were not given a comparison by county of how much the raises would be.
"If I could vote again, I'll still vote for raises, but I'd like to see them put in incrementally instead of all at once," he said. Mr. Aylor and Mr. Younger both said their individual associations, as well as other associations representing county officials, lobbied for the increase but they did not directly appeal to lawmakers. The only Northern Kentucky lawmakers who voted against the bill were Republican Reps. Katie Stine of Fort Thomas and Jon David Reinhardt of Alexandria. Rep. Dick Murgatroyd, R-Villa Hills, did not vote because he is running for Kenton County judge-executive. Boone, Kenton and Campbell county officials covered under the bill each make $48,726.
That will increase to $66,089 in Campbell and Boone counties and $68,155 in Kenton County unless the official has served at least three years. The salary then increases to $74,351 in Boone and Campbell counties and $78,481 in Kenton County.
