County board sets salaries for elected officials

By RICHARD JENKINS

rjenkins@yourdailyglobe.com

Hurley — The Iron County Board of Supervisors set the salaries for the county’s three elected officials for the next four years Tuesday.

The resolution approved Tuesday sets the salaries for the clerk, treasurer and register of deeds offices through the year 2024.

Clerk Mike Saari said the figures included an increase to offset the raises other county employees got in 2017 and 2018, so the elected officials got the same increase as everyone else.

“I took what every other employee received (in raises) … they got 40 cents one year, we got a quarter; they got 35 another year, we got a quarter,” Saari said. “So all I did is, I took the difference of how much we lost, added it on there so it comes out that it was just like we got the same raise everybody else did.”

The approved resolution sets the 2021 salaries for the three offices as follows: $56,519 for the clerk and $54,904 for treasurer and register of deeds, $57,039 for the clerk and $55,424 for the treasurer and register of deeds in 2022, $57,559 for the clerk and $55,944 for the treasurer and register of deeds for 2023, and $58,079 for the clerk and $56,464 for the treasurer and register of deeds in 2024.

Saari said the salaries had to be determined by April 15 so they were set for any candidates interested in running for the offices in the next election.

In other action:

—The board approved resolutions authorizing the county’s forestry department to complete the construction of restroom and shower buildings at the county’s Weber Lake facility in Iron Belt and the Trail 17 Cramer Lake extension without seeking bids since the work is being done internally.

—Saari stressed the importance of Iron County residents completing the 2020 census, and said the board would have to consider whether to reconfigure the districts that make up the board once the new population figures are calculated but those decisions wouldn’t need to be made for another year and a half.

—The board approved a one-year agreement with the United States Geological Survey and LaPointe Iron Company to have the USGS take over water quality testing the county had been conducting in the Montreal River watershed. According to the agreement, the USGS will cover 20% of the $11,875 cost in 2020 and LaPointe funding the remaining 80% of the costs for the year. The testing is designed to establish baseline data for the watershed that can be used for any future development in the area. According to the document, the agreement will be revisited annually.