Attendance Counts: New pay policy for county commissioners

Once again, the topic of commissioner attendance and compensation was brought before the White County Commissioners. During Tuesday’s full court meeting, commissioner Robert McCormick presented a resolution under old business that addressed compensating commissioners based on their attendance.  

Currently, all White County commissioners receive a monthly payment for their service on the county’s governing board. However, over the last term the issue of attendance has been brought up repeatedly due to some commissioners having an unusual number of absences yet still receiving pay. 

McCormick’s resolution stated that commissioners would receive a base pay equal to 12.5 percent of the monthly stiped with the remaining 87.5 percent split equally and awarded for attendance. The resolution called for commissioners to receive 43.75 percent of their pay for attending committee meetings and another 43.75 percent for attending the monthly full court meeting.  

Derrick Hutchings, Commission Chairman, said that after the vote failed to pass in previous meetings, he had heard from constituents saying they didn’t know how much money the percentages equated to, and that they would like to know that.  

Hutchings went on to say that, based on the $250 ammount allocated to commissioners monthly, that would mean they would get a base pay of $31.24. They would earn another $109.38 for attending committee meetings and another $109.38 for attending the full court meeting. 

After a brief discussion to confirm that the $31.24 did not fall below the state's required minimum payment, the resolution was put to a vote. While it failed to receive the required 8 yes votes last month, all ten of the commissioners in attendance on Tuesday voted to approve the new policy, which will go into effect immediately.  

Those commissioners not present at Tuesday’s meeting were Jordan Cocke, David Cranford, Thomas Margeson, and Roger Mason.