That got me to thinking that maybe I should discuss elected official salaries in a little more detail over all. All the information below is public information.

Most elected county official's minimum pay is set by the state. However the state provides no funding for any of those salaries. The pay is based on the county's population the greater the population the higher the pay. Loudon County is a class 4 county, population  35,000-49,999. That will change in the next census when the county population will move us to a class 5 county and all elected salaries will increase dramatically.  The state sets the minimum salary, but county commission can pay a higher salary than the minimum. As you will notice, the state has set the minimum salaries for our elected officials pretty high, in my opinion, based on the county's average per capita income of $40,000.00.

The mayor, sheriff and highway superintendent are the only three elected officials in Loudon County who are paid more than the state minimum. County commissioners could eliminate this imbalance. 

While county and board of education employees may get no raises this year, elected officials will receive a near 3.5% raise. 

The state minimum pay for 2020-2021 for:

County Mayor - $96,494.00
Sheriff - $93,742.00

Currently both the Loudon County Mayor and Sheriff make far more than the state required state minimum due to a bit of a fluke from many years ago. State law allows that if the county jail is designated as a workhouse, the sheriff may be paid an additional  sum above the minimum. A long time ago, during a previous administration, the county took the first steps to make the Loudon County jail a qualified workhouse. Unfortunately, the necessary requirements were never completed to qualify the jail as a workhouse. But the sheriff's pay was increased by the 5% in anticipation of the jail qualifying as a workhouse and the pay has continued to carry the additional 5% for all these many years.

The state law also requires that the county mayor’s compensation shall be at least 5% higher than the salary paid to the sheriff. Since the sheriff's salary is 5% higher than the minimum, that requires the mayor's salary to also be 5% higher. Current County Mayor, Buddy Bradshaw's salary is $98,429.00. Sheriff Tim Guider's salary is $93,742.00.

The proposed salary for the mayor for 2020-2021 is $101,657.00, $5,163.00 above the state minimum. The proposed salary for the sheriff for 2020-2021 is $96,816.00, $4,915.00 above the state minimum.

The state minimum pay 2020-2021 for:

Highway Superintendent - $91,901.00

Highway Superintendent, Eddie Simpson, was the elected official who requested a $5,000.00 raise this year.

For some unknown reasons several years ago, commission decided to pay the Highway Superintendent the same at the sheriff. Current Highway Superintendent Eddie Simpson's pay is $93,742.00, $4,915.00 above the state minimum.

Foot Note, Mr. Simpson also receives $7,200.00 per year as a Lenoir City councilman and nearly $20,000.00 in pay and benefits as a LCUB board member. 

The state minimum pay 2020-2021 for:

Current Trustee Chip Miller, Circuit/General Court Clerk Steve Harrelson, County Court Carrie McKelvey, Register Of Deeds Tracie Littleton and Property Assessor Mike Campbell.

The minimum pay for what is know as fee officers as listed above is $80,688.00. All receive the minimum pay.

County commissioner's pay is set by commissioners themselves. In 2007 Loudon County commissioner adopted a resolution to set their annual compensation at 10% of the mayor's salary. However, commissioners have not increased their pay for more than 10 years. Commissioner pay is $8,021.00 per year or about $668.42 per month regardless of the number of meetings attended.

School board members are paid $300.00 per month or $3,600.00 per year regardless of meetings attended. School board members compensation is also set by county commission.

Current General Sessions Judges, Rex Dale and Hank Sledge salaries are also set by the state. 2020-2021 minimum salary for each judge is $165,229.00.

Click here for complete details of  county salaries from the
CTAS 2013-2014 County Salaries Schedule.