VALE – All three members of the Malheur County Court – Judge Dan Joyce, and Commissioners Ron Jacobs and Jim Mendiola – are getting pay raises.
Joyce, Jacobs and Mendiola said they did not ask for a pay boost. Mendiola said he wasn’t sure if he was made aware of the pay hike but Jacobs said he understood in March he would receive a pay raise.
“I’ve never asked for it (a raise) in all the years I’ve been here,” said Joyce, who works full time.
Jacobs and Mendiola are considered part time.
Joyce’s raise included a 7% pay boost and a 3% cost-of-living adjustment – the same hike all county employees received for the next fiscal year.
Lorinda DuBois, Malheur County administrator, outlined the compensation boosts for county employees in a March 21 memo to the county court.
Joyce, who has been county judge since 2004, has received raises every year recently. In 2021, his salary was $78,741. Last year, it was $86,800.
His pay now is $95,748 – a 21% increase in three years.
That salary is $47,000 more than the median household income in the county. The median household income in Malheur County is $48,371, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Joyce’s salary, though, is in line with similar positions in neighboring counties.
Grant County Judge Scott Myers’ salary is $94,846 and Harney County Judge Bill Hart is paid $92,600.
Jacobs – who was elected in 2020 – and Mendiola – who was elected in 2022 – also
saw pay boosts steadily since 2021.
Both commissioner’s pay stood at $33,095 in 2022. Their pay jumped nearly $10,000 the next year, when part-time commissioners moved from a quarter-time employee to half time.
Mendiola and Jacobs received another modest boost last year to $45,804 – from $44.55 an hour to $46.97 an hour.
Jacobs said he views the pay raise as a way to encourage him to get more involved in county government.
“I feel like I am obligated to do more. I need to step up and get involved in most of the issues,” said Jacobs.
Mendiola said he didn’t ask for a raise. Joyce said the county’s three-member compensation board recommended the raises for the county court.
Malheur County Budget Committee member Lee Newman said he did not recall the issue of raises for the commissioners or the judge being discussed during two county budget sessions in April.
“If it would have come up I would have supported a pay raise for the judge and the commissioners,” said Newman.
Newman said he was inclined to review salaries for the court because “the cost of living is going up for everybody.”
“It doesn’t feel like the wrong thing to do to take a look at their compensation and make some adjustments. I appreciate the judge and the commissioners,” he said.
Newman said he isn’t sure he would take on Joyce’s job for the $95,748 salary.
“I look at it more as does the compensation overall meet the requirements for the job, rather than looking at it at a raise-by-raise basis,” he said.
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected]
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