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One Pay Standard for All Knox County Elected Officials

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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  • September 12, 2026 at 2:05 pm #7649
    Brandon Huckaby
    Participant

      Commissioners,

      Happy Saturday!

      While adopting the FY27 county budget in June, the previous Commission made a change that gave general government employees a much-needed 6% raise.

      In the days that followed, there was a lot of confusion about whether that increase also applied to elected officials. Initial media reporting suggested it included the Sheriff and Mayor, but that was not accurate.

      As I dug into the issue, I learned that state law establishes annual compensation adjustments for most county officials, while County Commission compensation is handled separately through our annual budget process. Because Board of Education members receive the same monthly compensation as commissioners, those adjustments affect them as well.

      The current process has historically been handled this way in part to avoid commissioners having to directly vote on their own salaries. However, I do not think our current system provides the clarity or transparency that it should.

      I am currently working with Legal and Finance on legislation that would tie future Commission and School Board compensation adjustments to the same state-certified formula used for other county officials.

      Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 8-24-102, general county officers receive annual compensation adjustments tied to state employee increases, with those adjustments capped at 5% per year. That formula applies to offices including the County Mayor, Sheriff, Trustee, Property Assessor, County Clerk, and Register of Deeds.

      Personally, I am not comfortable being in the position of setting my own future salary, and I suspect many of you feel the same way.

      For that reason, I am proposing that we consider an approach similar to Hamilton County and tie future Commission and School Board compensation adjustments to the same state-certified metric. That would give us one clear, predictable, and transparent standard rather than requiring future commissions to revisit their own compensation each year.

      I would like to hold a workshop to discuss this proposal, Mayor Henderson’s proposed language, and any other ideas commissioners may want to bring forward.

      I had originally looked at October 20, but that conflicts with TCSA’s 2026 Fall Conference. Before publicly noticing another date, I wanted to come here first and see what dates may work best for everyone.

      I think one workshop focused on elected officials’ compensation, the current process, and the options available to us would be beneficial, particularly before we consider any related ballot referendums.

      I look forward to working through this with you all.

      Brandon Huckaby
      Knox County Commissioner
      Third District

      September 12, 2026 at 7:19 pm #7650
      Justin Cofer
      Participant

        Commissioner Huckaby,
        I would be open to participating in a workshop once we have an opportunity to review Mayor Henderson’s proposed language in detail.

        My priority is ensuring that any change to the charter is written in a way that prevents compensation from ever being used,intentionally or unintentionally, as a tool for retaliation or as motivation to govern in a certain way. Additionally, whatever structure we consider will need to account for the staggered terms of our seats to ensure that adjustments are applied consistently and fairly across election cycles.

        Once we’ve had time to review the draft language with those factors in mind, I look forward to continuing the discussion.
        Justin D. Cofer
        Knox County Commissioner
        At-large Seat 10

        September 12, 2026 at 8:48 pm #7651
        Angela Russell
        Participant

          Hello, I contacted the Mayor’s office last week about this issue. The mayor’s office has already been working on the very issue brought up by Commissioner Huckaby including possibly tying future raises to the State of Tennessee. They are head of this issue and there is no need for commission to try to “reinvent the wheel”. I agree with Commissioner Cofer, we need to wait and see their final language.
          Thank you, Angela Russell, District 5

          September 12, 2026 at 8:49 pm #7652
          Angela Russell
          Participant

            “ahead”

            September 13, 2026 at 11:11 pm #7653
            Garrett Holt
            Participant

              Brandon,

              I think this is a fantastic idea and absolutely worth exploring. I would also love to hear from the Mayor’s Office and better understand their perspective and proposal as part of the discussion.

              Regardless, I really like the idea of moving toward a clear, objective formula rather than putting future commissions in the position of having to determine their own compensation each year. To me, tying it to an existing state-certified metric simplifies the process, makes it more predictable, and provides greater transparency to the public.

              Assuming Legal is comfortable with the mechanics under the Charter and state law, I would definitely be interested in exploring this approach further. I think it’d be worthwhile to reach out to the Law Department to see what we would need to do relative to our charter to most closely match the state law here.

              Thanks for taking the initiative on this.

              Garrett

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