State lawmakers are winding down the lame duck session, and among the many bills they are considering is one that would raise the pay of elected officials starting in 2025. That pay hike would cover county and township officials, judges and statewide elected officeholders, as well as lawmakers who will be in office in the two-year session starting next year.
Elected officials are currently set for 1.75% raises, as of a bill passed in the 2018 lame duck session. The proposal under discussion would mean 5% raises for the next four years, then 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower, for the following six years.
"I think there's it's a little bit of a cliche, but there are a lot of moving parts, because the judges are one thing, county elected officials, the township elected officials. We can't simply accept an up or down proposal," said Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima). “There are folks on both sides of the aisle who want to do it. There are certainly folks in our caucus who don't want to do it."
Fellow Republican Speaker Jason Stephens is also noncommittal, but stressed that the raise will also go to officials in local government who keep county business going.
"I think there's a lot of discussion among - as being a former county official who went eight years without a pay raise - our county officials, especially in our smaller counties, do a lot of that work themselves, and actually could work in the private sector for a lot more than what they make in the public sector," Stephens said. “I think it's a fair debate and a fair discussion to have. So we'll see how it goes.”
The pay raise would have to pass with an emergency clause, because if it’s not approved by the end of the year, raises can’t take effect till after the next two year legislative term. But it would take 2/3 of lawmakers to agree - 66 representatives and 22 senators.
Legislators earn just under $72,000 a year plus extra pay for committee work. County commissioners are paid based on population. This year, that's around $57,900 for those in counties with up to 55,000 residents to just over $120,000 for the largest counties.
The median salary in Ohio is around $68,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
