Members of the Lamar County Board of Supervisors have been granted a slight salary increase as allowed by a bill passed during the 2022 session of the Mississippi Legislature.
The increase, which was approved by supervisors at the January 2 board meeting, sets their annual salary at $52,000, up from the previous salary of $50,000.
“I think they deserve it,” Lamar County Administrator Jody Waits said. “They are all extremely hard-working and dedicated to the county, and I think the amount of the salary increase is fair to them.
“I’m glad that they were able to get that from the state legislature.”
The pay raise comes from Senate Bill 2719, which amends Section 25-3-13 of the Mississippi Code of 1972 and allows supervisors to take pay increases in incremental raises. Supervisors took their first pay raise under that bill on July 1, 2022, when their pay went up from $46,000 a year to $50,000 a year.
The total assessed valuation of Lamar County, based on the preceding tax year, is approximately $807.8 million.
According to SB 2719, from and after January 1, the salary of supervisors may be increased by an amount not to exceed $2,000. From and after January 1, 2028, the salary of supervisors may be increased by an amount not to exceed $4,000.
“They took the first (raise) a couple of years back, then beginning this term they can take an additional amount, which they did,” Waits said. “According to the law, the next board can do that at the beginning of that term as well.
“Their salaries are set by state code, and it’s in the law as to what they can earn based on the value of your ad valorem in the county. So the board increased their salaries according to what state law allows.”
If supervisors approve a salary increase under the bill effective during any fiscal year, the members of that board of supervisors are not eligible for any additional salary increases for that fiscal year. Salaries shall not be increased in the last year of the supervisors' term.
The bill states that the annual salary cannot be reduced as a result of a reduction in the county’s total assessed valuation, and salaries cannot be increased until the board of supervisors pass a resolution stating the amount of the increase and record that on the board’s minutes.
No state revenue shall be used to pay any salary increase authorized under the bill. Although supervisors’ salaries are paid by taxes collected from Lamar County residents and not the state, the pay range is set by state statute.
“That (Senate Bill 2719) goes on further to say there are two more occasions on which a raise is allowed by that statute, up to a certain amount,” Waits said in a previous story. “Those next two raises that are allowed in that bill, the board does not vote that for the next board; it’s set up to where the board would have to vote on it for their own term.”
In addition, Waits believes the pay raise will help attract quality candidates to lead the county.
“It would encourage folks who want to be elected to the position, rather than discouraging it because of the amount of responsibility versus they pay that goes with it,” he said.
