Ohio lawmakers and other elected officials won’t be getting pay raises anytime soon. The plan to hike the pay for legislators plus county and township officials, judges and statewide elected officeholders is dead for now.
Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said including pay raises in this lame duck session just got too complicated. And he said there wasn’t enough support among his fellow Republican Senators for a pay raise for themselves.
“The increase for legislators in my caucus was absolutely not going to happen,” Huffman said.
Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said there was reservation among Democrats in the Senate too.
“We know how people are struggling right now in the state in general. And they make way less than the public officials,” Antonio said.
Because of a bill passed in the 2018 lame duck session, elected officials are currently set for 1.75% raises. The proposed bill in this lame duck session called for county and township officials, judges and statewide office holders to receive a 5% raise for each of the next four years then a guaranteed cost of living raise after that.
House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) recently told reporters he realizes some county officials, especially those in smaller counties, likely need a pay raise.
"I think there's a lot of discussion among - as being a former county official who went eight years without a pay raise - our county officials, especially in our smaller counties, do a lot of that work themselves, and actually could work in the private sector for a lot more than what they make in the public sector," Stephens said.
In the end, Huffman said it was the legislative pay raises that killed the proposal because not enough of his members would support that provision.
“My understanding is that the House version of this has to have the legislators in it,” Huffman said.
Ohio legislators earn just under $72,000 a year plus extra pay for committee work. County commissioners are paid based on population. This year, that's around $57,900 for those in counties with up to 55,000 residents to just over $120,000 for the largest counties.
The median salary in Ohio is around $68,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
