For a man who proclaims not to care about a pay raise, Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Beck has worked very hard for him and his fellow commissioners to have one.
The District 5 commissioner called on his colleagues Wednesday to approve a proposal that would tie the pay of the commission chairman and the chairman pro tempore to a rate set in a 1990 resolution, not the amount used currently, which was set by a fiscal year 2000 memo.
The proposal would move the officers' pay from $29,040 and $25,633 annually to $31,122 and $28,899, respectively.
Beck holds neither of the two positions now but was chairman within the six years for which the officers would receive back pay if the resolution passes during the commission's Sept. 13 meeting.
He also had tried twice in 2015 to have the commissioners' salaries uncoupled from that of the county mayor, allowing commissioners then to set their salaries.
Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said the change, which emerged after a legal meeting he'd had with commissioners, was a matter of "housekeeping."
But Commissioners Joe Graham and Tim Boyd questioned the soundness of returning to a resolution that hadn't been used since fiscal 2000.
"We need to correct the resolution to reflect current policy," Boyd said, "and the current policy's been in effect for 17 years. I'm in total agreement with that."
Current Commission Chairman Chester Bankston, Chairman Pro Tempore Randy Fairbanks and Commissioner Sabrena Smedley voiced support after the meeting for the resolution Beck championed, though Fairbanks and Smedley said they would be willing to listen to alternatives.
Though we don't believe a change in the pay scale that has been used since 2000 is necessary, we're not opposed to going back to the 1990 resolution if a majority of commissioners vote to do that. However, we don't see a need for six years of back pay, the set amount being the most that could be requested due to the statute of limitations.
What we're tired of seeing is a lack of transparency on the issue of commissioners' pay. In his first 2015 attempt to change the pay rate, Beck left a letter in commissioners' chambers in February to be signed by members interested in having the Tennessee General Assembly remove an exception in state law that ties commissioners' salaries to the county mayor's salary. Eight of the nine signed it.
"It was just something I drafted," he said. "If they read it and felt like it was something they wanted to sign, they could."
No public discussion was held on the issue, though Beck, backtracking in December 2015, said he would have brought it up if Graham first hadn't made the letter public.
But in March 2015, Beck said variously, according to Times Free Press archives, he didn't want a raise, he was "ambivalent" over the pay issue, and he wanted back pay.
"If under the law I'm supposed to be making $25,000, I'd want back pay," he said. "I've been here 11 years. It doesn't give me an automatic raise, it gives me what I'm due."
However, that same month, Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Hixson, the state House majority leader, pulled the bill from the legislature that would have given commissioners direct control over their salaries.
Undaunted, Beck said he wanted state Attorney General Herbert Slatery to decide the issue. Back pay for Beck at the time would have amounted to $48,827.
"I'm preparing to see where I should stand with back pay," he said. "Ignorance of the law doesn't excuse people from following it."
In December 2015, a new letter was left for commissioners to sign, asking that legislators sever commissioners' pay from the county mayor.
"It's time to change the way we structure the way we do our pay connected with the mayor's pay," Beck said.
That letter, which was signed by six commissioners, was voted on publicly. However, it, like the previous letter, went nowhere in the legislature.
We are somewhat sympathetic on the issue of commissioners' pay. Members knew what the pay was when they ran for the part-time position, but some of the current commissioners generously work hours equal to a full-time job.
And most, including Beck, who is on the city of Chattanooga payroll as a court officer, also have full-time jobs. But we believe the issue of commissioner pay always should be discussed as part of regular county business.
If commissioners want to try again in the 2017 legislative session, we hope they'll discuss it publicly and take a vote. If they pass such a resolution and the legislature approves it, they will be able to set their salaries. If they do, the voters in turn will be able to make a judgment as to how such increased pay looks on each commissioner.