Employees of the Summit County Board of Elections soon might see a pay raise.
Board member Alex Arshinkoff asked the board Monday to consider a 1.5 percent increase. He said workers haven’t received a raise since March 2007.
Board President Timothy Gorbach added that full-time workers also did not get the $500 cost-of-living stipend in 2009 that other county employees who make less than $50,000 received.
Arshinkoff said the personnel budget has enough money to cover the raises, which amount to about $17,700 for the board’s 30 full-time employees.
He also amended his motion to make clear he intended the raises to include part-time workers as well.
Gorbach said the board did not calculate the cost for part-time workers, which could vary from 100 during the presidential election year to fewer than a half a dozen this year.
Board member Ray Weber said if the board is driven by part-time workers, those employees should be considered for a raise — and maybe should be first in line for one.
Board Director Joseph Masich said part-time workers make $11.65 an hour, and a 1.5 percent raise would amount to only 17 cents more an hour, to $11.82.
He said salaries for full-time employees at the Board of Elections range from $39,000 to $106,000.
Gorbach said he would feel more comfortable knowing key numbers more precisely before approving raises because it is taxpayers’ money and their duty as board members to know that amount.
Board members decided to table the motion until they could determine and study all the figures.
County board of elections appointees make a salary of nearly $18,000, and would not by eligible to receive the pay raises discussed.
In other business, the board decided to subpoena a bank’s campaign finance records of former Common Pleas Judge Brenda Burnham Unruh, who died in March 2011. Her campaign committee has not closed her account.
The board previously had given the committee 30 days to close it, but nothing was done.
Gorbach said it is an unusual case, because the treasurer of the account is not authorized to sign for checks on it, so he doesn’t receive any bank statements and could never give an accurate figure. Only the judge was a signer on the account.
Every time the committee doesn’t meet the deadline, they violate election laws and a letter is sent to the Ohio Elections Commission. Gorbach said the bank is eating into the account with fees, so the board would like the account closed and a decision made on what to do with the balance — whether it’s given to charity or into local Republican party funds.
The members also voted to send a letter to the Ohio Elections Commission asking it to subpoena the same records so the request will carry more clout.
The next board meeting is scheduled for May 28.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.