Guthrie County Engineer Josh Sebern gave his proposed fiscal year 2021 salaries and wages to the Board of Supervisors Thursday.

Sebern told the Board he researched the salaries of secondary roads employees through the Iowa County Engineers Service Bureau, and averaging 55 counties with populations similar to Guthrie’s, there was a four-percent gap in salaries. Therefore he proposed that all salaries be increased by 4.5%. Sebern explained to the Board why laborers weren’t included in this bump, “You want a range so I’ve been working for the past few years to try and spread that range out so there’s some incentive to take other jobs and move up. So I didn’t want to bring that labor back up and close that range again so then we got a flat range and nobody wants to move.”

Sebern added this would amount to 1% of his budget, and Supervisor Mike Dickson said he didn’t think Sebern was asking for too much. No action was taken on the salaries, and Sebern expects to give the Secondary Roads Department budget later this month. The Board also approved the semiannual report from the Treasurer’s Office, and received the proposed budgets from the Treasurer, County Custodian, and Transfer Station Director.