The governor has a week to decide on whether to give county elections officials a raise. The proposal hit his desk Tuesday.
Running an election is a lot of work. And Tuesday while Floridians cast their votes, a measure giving election supervisors a raise made its way to the governor. The county level officials could be in for an almost 20 percent salary bump.
Rep. Ray Pilon (R-Sarasota) explains county officials are paid based on a state formula.
“Well there’s one of those constitutional officers that’s left out of there and that’s our supervisors of elections,” Pilon says. “They’ve always been below the curve, and in my opinion watching them—although the tax collector has a big job, the property appraiser has a big job—supervisor of elections has a huge job.”
The lowest paid supervisor—in Liberty County—makes just over $76,000, but many make more than $100,000. Rep. Mike Bileca (R-Miami) thinks that’s plenty.
“To sit here and support a raise of $20,000 per supervisor that are already again making an average of $100,000—it’s just too much,” he says.
State officials say the move would mean an average salary increase of 18.7 percent—or almost $20,000 per county.
