Panel OKs bill simplifying county elected officials' pay
A bill that would simplify calculating the salaries of county elected officials was approved Wednesday by an Oklahoma House committee.
The measure, House Bill 1939, was filed in response to a state auditor's report that showed that Grady County mistakenly overpaid its elected officials by hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a decade. The House County a nd Municipal Government Committee approved the bill by an 11-0 vote.
The bill was filed by two lawmakers who represent Grady County — Rep. Brad Boles, R-Marlow, and Rep. David Perryman, D-Chick as ha. During Wednesday' s hearing, Bo les, the committee chairman, said the bill is intended to make it easier for counties to comply with state law when calculating pay scales for elected officials.
Under current law, county elected officials' salaries are set using a complicated formula that includes factors like property tax revenue and population. The bill would replace that formula with a salary range, allowing county commissioners to approve salaries for county elected officials, including themselves, that fall within those guidelines.
If the bill passes, it would apply to any county elected officials elected after Nov. 1.
Earlier this year, a state auditor' s investigation determined t hat Grady County had over paid its elected officials by a combined $727,000 over a 10-year period. Grady County commissioners failed to comply with the state law that sets county officials' salary limits, the auditor's report concluded.
The problem began in August 2008, when an 18- percent salary increase was granted to Grady County officials and other employees. That raise came after an assistant district attorney warned officials that elected officials should be excluded from the raise. The auditor's office found no evidence that Grady County commissioners approved raises for officials other than approving the budget request for the estimate of needs.
County elected officials continued receiving regular raises until last year, when auditors determined those officials were receiving annuals alaries $20,000 more than allowed by law.