Commissioners adopt formula tying elected officials' pay to county median household income

The Utah County Board adopted a resolution to change elected officials' salaries and directed that the new structure take effect Jan. 1, 2022.

The approach ties the commissioners' salary to the county's two‑year lagged, inflation‑adjusted median household income. Using the 2019 median household income of $79,545 and a multiplier of 1.61, the formula yields a commissioner baseline of about $128,067. Other elected officials' salaries are set by applying historically based ratios to the commissioner baseline (for example, the sheriff at 1.05, the county attorney at 1.15, and several offices at 0.95), all documented in Exhibit A accompanying the resolution.

Commissioner comments framed the change as an effort to reduce political influence over pay-setting and to create a stable, defensible metric that adjusts with local household incomes. Ralph Barnes, HR, told the board that the multipliers and ratios were based on the county's historical data and compared favorably with other large counties while remaining conservative. "I can say that we're still less than the average of the metro counties," he said, adding that the methodology is defendable and would be reviewed biennially if adopted into code.

The motion to approve the resolution and Exhibit A passed 3-0. The board discussed possibly codifying the approach so future commissions would review the median household income every two years and adjust elected-official pay according to the formula.