Plan for commissioner raises moves forward

A divided Forsyth County Board of Commissioners has put a pay raise for commissioners serving after the next election cycle into motion.

The board voted 3-2, with District 2 Commissioner Pete Amos and District 4’s Cindy Jones Mills opposed, to kick off the process of raising commissioner pay to $48,000, with the chair making $49,500. The proposal will come back to commissioners as a resolution after required legal ads are posted.

Commission members currently make $34,900 as a base salary with the chair getting $36,747. Commission chair Todd Levent had previously proposed a $42,000 across-the-board base salary with a per-meeting stipend. That idea has now been dropped.

Levent called the plan “very modest” when compared with what other county officials and employees are paid. He also said the current salary structure, when combined with the workload, limits the pool of people who can afford to seek a commission seat.

Commissioners Rick Swope and Laura Semanson lauded the proposal as a way to encourage more people to run for the office, but board members Cindy Jones Mills and Pete Amos objected, with Amos saying the proposal would make Forsyth commissioners among the highest-paid in the state and that commissioners are considered part-time.

The raises would kick in January 1, 2019.