Mayor Betsy Henderson's proposal to roll back 6% salary increases for county commissioners and school board members isn't possible because it goes against the county charter, Knox News has learned.
When 6% raises were added to the budget for county employees, the increases applied to county commissioners and school board members, too. Henderson asked commissioners to reverse course on their own raises, but the county's charter says compensation cannot be reduced during elected officials' terms.
And because commissioner and school board terms are staggered, any salary reductions would run afoul of the law because they naturally would occur in the middle of some members' terms, Knox County Deputy Law Director Mike Moyers explained to Knox News.
After learning her original proposal wasn't doable, Henderson is pivoting.
Instead of asking commissioners to claw back their raises at the next county commission meeting on Sept. 28, Henderson will ask them to put a charter amendment on voters' 2028 ballots to remove the prohibition on reducing commissioners' salaries.
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"The current charter creates a one-way ratchet for the commission to raise their salaries and no way to reduce them," Jenna Triplett, a spokesperson for Henderson, told Knox News.
"In June, when the commission cut $4 million from the schools, they also increased their pay. In July, the school board unanimously voted to ask them to repeal it. This amendment will allow Mayor Henderson to deliver on her promise to the people of Knox County and redirect the 6% pay raise back to Knox County schools."
The county charter says commissioners and school board member must make the same amount of money, so commissioners exempting themselves from raises would automatically do the same for school board members. School board members in July unanimously asked the commission to reverse the raises for both bodies, but commissioners declined.
Even if commissioners put the charter amendment on voters' ballots and it's approved in 2028, Henderson could not unilaterally reduce salaries without commissioners' approval.
If Henderson wants the commission to approve a referendum this month, she must submit an ordinance with the specifics by Sept. 17.
Why did Henderson want the commission to undo its raises?
Theraises passed in June caused friction between the commission and the school board. County employees already were scheduled to receive 3% cost of living raises starting July 1 under former Mayor Glenn Jacobs, but former commission chair Gina Oster successfully proposed doubling them – and that meant taking $4 million from the school district budget.
Commissioners and school board members were automatically lumped in with all county employees who received raises, which excluded KCS employees. Commissioners who supported the pay increases said they wanted to help county workers and sheriff's deputies keep up with rising costs.
When Henderson was the Republican nominee for county mayor and a Knox County Schools board member, she lambasted the pay raises.
"All the Democrats and many of the Republicans on the Knox County Commission voted to increase pay for themselves and other elected officials while reducing the Knox County Schools budget by $4 million," Henderson wrote on Facebook on July 23.
Reversing the raises for the 11 county commissioners and nine school board members would have returned $30,000 to the county's budget through the end of this fiscal year, which ends July 1. The raises amount to $1,921.87 per person annually, including benefits.
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Mayor Betsy Henderson seeks to change law to allow pay cuts for leaders
