Hamilton County commissioners did an odd thing Wednesday. In effect, they voted to raise the pay of previous commission chairmen and vice chairmen going back six years but to keep the pay of the current chairman and vice chairman and those going forward the same as it is now.
Kindly people, those commissioners, to think of their predecessors.
In truth, a legal hiccup suggested the back pay, and commissioners likely wanted to avoid any – however unlikely – legal problem.
Only one of the six people who will receive back pay, Fred Skillern, who will receive $8,879 (plus the required Social Security match for all six), the largest amount of any of the six, is no longer a county employee. Former Commissioner Jim Coppinger ($1,073) is now the county mayor, and former Commissioner Larry Henry ($5,250) is now the Hamilton County Circuit Court clerk.
The rest, Jim Fields ($6,969), Chester Bankston ($5,318) and Randy Fairbanks ($3,280), are still on the commission.