Ottawa County commissioners set to give selves 60% raise, healthcare stipend
The Board of Commissioners will take up the matter at its regularly scheduled meeting set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 14, at the county’s Fillmore Complex.
OTTAWA COUNTY — The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners is set to decide if they will approve a 60% raise in 2025.
The Officers’ Compensation Commission, comprised of citizens appointed by the board of commissioners, voted 3-1 on April 11 to give the raises to whoever will be a sitting county commissioner when new terms begin next year.
The Board of Commissioners will take up the matter at its regularly scheduled meeting set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 14, at the county’s Fillmore Complex.
Currently, the nine commissioners on the 11-member board make $20,844 annually, with the vice chair making $21,523 and board chair making $27,127. With the increases, the commissioners will make $33,350.40, while the vice chair will earn $34,436.80 and the chair will earn $43,403.20.
Read more: Ottawa County commissioners poised to receive 60% raise
All commissioners would receive in 2025 a $1,000 monthly stipend for healthcare coverage as well — a fringe benefit that was eliminated in 2010 by the Compensation Commission, according to the commission’s historical documents.
The 60 percent increase would be a wide departure from all previous compensation commission recommendations — and would make Ottawa County commissioners amongst the highest paid in the state.
By comparison, commissioners in 2011 made $9,009, while the vice chair and chair made $9,483 and $13,277, respectively. In 2018, they made $17,926 (commissioners), $18,485 (vice chair) and $22,407 (chair).
The move has created controversy amongst sitting commissioners, with several Ottawa Impact officials defending the increase as a “living wage” and non-OI commissioners questioning “the false narrative” that the chair of the compensation committee, a Democrat, is to blame.
“The story painted this week was that the Board of Commissioners requested and approved a 60% pay increase. While many in the state have been aware there is a legitimate compensation problem which needs to be addressed, the Board of Commissioners did not make a request for any specific amount,” BOC Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea posted on her campaign website May 5.
Rhodea has never responded to this reporter’s requests for comment.
Rhodea, a member of far-right fundamentalist group Ottawa Impact, now has a six-seat controlling majority on the 11-member board. After coming into power in 2023, the group has made a series of controversial decisions that have led to five lawsuits within 14 months and a brief investigation from the Michigan Attorney General's Office.
In December, the OI-controlled board appointed four new members, all supporters of OI, to the now seven-member Compensation Commission:
Mark Brouwer
Craig Dunlap
Angela Loreth
Lynn Janson
Loreth made the motion for the 60% increase at the April 11 compensation meeting, and Mark Brouwer seconded the measure. Jansen, Brouwer and Loreth voted yes and commission chair Larry Jackson voted no. Dunlap was absent.
Despite voting against the measure, Rhodea criticized Jackson for not supporting the BOC.
“Jackson, disagreeing with the recommendations of the Officers Compensation Commission, has joined efforts with the activist media to blame the Board of Commissioners,” Rhodea said.
Commissioner Jacob Bonnema, who campaigned with OI in 2022 but split with the group in March 2023, said the group is pushing a “false narrative” that distances OI from the push for the significant increase and insinuates Jackson didn’t follow proper procedure.
“They claim that Larry Jackson, the chairman of the Compensation Committee (a Democrat), was the one responsible for the significant pay raise and deliberately leaked the information,” Bonnema wrote on his campaign Facebook page on May 6. “Three members were absent during the vote. Three members voted in favor of the raise, while Larry Jackson voted against it.”
Jackson provided the information on the raises — including modest increases for other countywide offices — to local media after the commission’s final meeting for the year concluded May 2 and the paperwork to submit to administration was completed.
“The final document, which was later reported in the news, was prepared by (administrative executive aide) Jordan Epperson and given to Chairman Jackson,” Bonnema said in his post. “This document is a matter of public record.”
Jackson said he’s perplexed about the inferences of his actions.
“I don't even understand where it's coming from,” he said. “Because we have a timestamp note and meeting notes of what happened in the meeting. Angela made the motion, Mark seconded it and then we and went 3-1. So, I mean, that's all I know.”
The Compensation Commission was formed in late 2005 and is charged with making recommendations for the compensation of county elected officials in even-numbered years.
The commission is required to compare how Ottawa County officials fare in compensation when compared to other counties in the state. Ranking as the seventh most populous county of Michigan’s 83 counties, the compensation increases would put Ottawa officials as the second-highest earning of those surveyed for the commission’s review.
Other countywide elected leaders — prosecutor, sheriff, treasurer, clerk/register of deeds and water resources commissioner — will see an 8 percent increase in 2025, with a 6 percent bump in 2026 if approved Tuesday.
— Contact Sarah Leach at SentinelLeach@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach. Subscribe to her content at sentinelleach.substack.com.
It takes a lot of nerve when you have screwed up as badly as they have since coming into office, to then turn around and give yourself a raise!
Not that they care, apparently, but this raise is one of the most politically tone-deaf proposals I've seen in a while. Wasn't one of the OI campaign pledges to be "fiscally responsible"?