Three Morgan County elected offices had their salaries set and frozen for the next four years this morning by the current Morgan County Commissioners.
One commissioner seat, currently occupied by Ginny Fanning who is not seeking another term in office; the Morgan County Circuit Clerk seat, and the Morgan County Coroner seat all had their salaries set.
Fanning says that her seat will have its annual salary set at $42,500 and frozen for the next four years. She says that the Circuit Clerk and Coroner positions will receive a 3% increase to their base salary. According to 2023 salary figures, the Circuit Clerk earned a base salary of $71,281. The Coroner’s position has annual base salary of $35,545.
Commissioner Brad Zeller, who is the longest tenured county commissioner, says that the salary increase process is not one that’s easy to go through: “We tried to do the increases four years at a time, and everybody got upset about that. It’s hard to set these salaries every four years, which we’re required by state law. I would state for the record that Mr. Wankel’s seat was frozen at $42,500 for six years. We started the process before that figure was reached. We started that process four years ago for the salary increases for our office. In the past, it had always been that the commissioner’s salary was half of what the full-time elected officials’ positions were. Now, we just got a little ahead of that pace so for the last four years at least the last two to three cycles of two years for these salaries. I think everyone here is comfortable with that decision. It’s very hard for us to make that decision for other people. It’s one of the low things on our wish list of things to do, but I think we have had good conversations with everyone prior to today. I think it’s something we are all comfortable with.”
Commissioner Chair Mike Wankel’s salary is currently at the lower salary amount of $40,000 annually compared to the other two seats. It will remain frozen at that rate until 2025. Salary scheduled for increases at that time include the sheriff, state’s attorney, and county clerk’s office.