Compensation for board members would rise from $95,000 to a range of $125,000-$130,000, and for the chairman, from $100,000 to $140,000-$145,000. 

According to Foust, the proposed salaries for Board members are “consistent with both with surrounding large jurisdictions as well as what Board members’ compensation would be if they had

received the same pay increase County staff received since 2015.”

The Board’s compensations have not changed since 2015 and can only be adjusted following a public hearing in an election year. The change can only be applied to the next Board.

Foust said that the Board of Supervisors is not a part-time governing body. “Every Supervisor and the Chairman maintains full office hours throughout the year, and the Board meets most Tuesdays, ” he said.

Supervisors Walter Alcorn (D-Hunter Mill) and Patrick Herrity (R-Springfield) voted against the measure. “I do not support raising supervisor salaries more than what county employees have received during the past eight years,” Alcorn said.

“It is unbelievable that this Board would propose a 37 percent raise for themselves when our residents are struggling with high inflation, a 50 percent increase in homeowner taxes over the last decade, and in a budget that does not address the staffing crisis in public safety and other critical county positions,” Herrity said.