Township trustee pay set by state law
Township budget: Trustee salary
$50,000 or less: $5,144
$50,001 - $100,000: $6,174
$100,001 - $250,000: $7,332
$250,001 - $500,000: $8,490
$500,001 - $750,000: $9,004
$750,001 - $1,500,000: $10,288
$1,500,001 - $3,500,000: $11,318
$3,500,001 - $6,000,000: $12,346
$6,000,001 - $10,000,000: $15,998
Greater than $10,000,000: $20,568
Source: Ohio Township Association
Digging deep
To produce this story, the Dayton Daily News analyzed salary information for elected officials that was reported to the Montgomery County Board of Elections. We also surveyed the largest cities and townships in Greene County.
Pay tables for elected township trustee and city council positions can be viewed at MyDaytonDailyNews.com.
Township trustee jobs up for election in November are among the best-paying elected positions in the region, a Dayton Daily News analysis found, despite the fact these races get little attention and the office-holders often represent far fewer people than area city councils.
The two incumbents running for trustee of Sugarcreek Twp. in Greene County, for example, each had to get only 1,000 votes to be elected four years ago. But they are paid $15,998 per year and have access to township insurance.
Neighboring Beavercreek, however, has more than five times the population but pays its city councilmembers only $6,000 per year and doesn’t offer them health insurance.
Four of the top paid local elected positions analyzed by the Daily News are township trustees in Harrison, Miami, Washington and Sugarcreek Twps. Their salaries trailed only Dayton’s mayor, Dayton’s council and Kettering’s mayor.
“I do understand some township trustees are paid quite handsomely,” said Kent Scarrett, communications director for the Ohio Municipal League. “I would think members of the legislature ought to look into that.”
The issue falls to the General Assembly because township trustees — unlike city councilmembers — don’t determine their own pay. It is spelled out in state law based on the size of each township’s budget.
This means some years Sugarcreek Twp. — which has a budget of just under $9 million — has to raise its township trustee pay to the highest rate of $20,568 whenever it has a large project that puts the budget over $10 million.
Townships contacted for this story also were more likely to offer health insurance for elected officials — at no charge in some, such as Bath Twp. — while few cities offered it.
‘Never seen a city councilman … pushing snow’
There are more than 100 township trustee positions on the ballot this year in southwest Ohio. Township officials say they earn their pay and their jobs are more hands-on than those of most elected city officials.
“I’ve never seen a city councilman in a dump truck pushing snow,” said German Twp. Trustee Ben DeGroat.
German Twp. trustees are paid $11,318 per year, which is nearly $4 per trustee for each of the township’s 2,882 residents. The two incumbents ran unopposed four years ago and are facing one challenger this year.
DeGroat said he prefers letting someone else set his pay rate — saying it makes it more objective and fair — and that German Twp. trustees turn down health insurance to save the towship money.
“I don’t think any councilmember or township trustee should vote for a pay raise,” he said. “You should be doing it for the village or the town or the township you live in, not for the money.”
Sugarcreek Twp. Administrator Barry Tiffany said township trustees are paid more because even urbanized townships have smaller staffs than cities, and require more from their elected officials.
“I can’t hire people, I can’t fire people, I can’t approve anything over $2,000 or so on,” he said. “They have to be an integral part of the process, more so than city government.”
Politics keeps city pay down
A major driver of the pay discrepancy is politics. City councilmembers risk political suicide by voting for their own pay raises while trustees get a pay hike simply by increasing the township budget.
Scarrett said voters take a critical look at city councilmembers considering a increase. They ask, “Have you earned that pay raise when others in the community may not have received a pay raise through their jobs?”
This keeps city council pay low. Near the bottom of the range are Huber Heights councilmembers, who are paid $3,600 a year to manage a city of 38,101. This means every resident pays 9 cents per year for each councilmember.
“(We’re) a bargain no matter how you look at it,” said Huber Heights Councilwoman Karen Kaleps.
“I think we’ve never felt that anybody that serves on council has ever really served for the money,” she said “It was really because we care about our city and want to do something for it.”
Huber Heights’ charter says that council can only vote on pay increases in a small time frame in odd-numbered years. They didn’t this year. And like most councils, they can’t raise their pay during their term. In fact, they have only raised their pay twice since the city was founded in the early 1980s, said Kalep, who has been on and off council since the beginning.
As for whether running a city is easier than running a township, Kalep said: “I don’t think one or the other is easer or less work, or more work, but they’re different.”
Lawmaker proposes pay cap
Scarrett of the Ohio Municipal League said Ohio lawmakers should consider giving local townships control over the pay of their elected officials.
“I would think you would want more voter participation in setting some of those levels and having some influence from constituents,” he said.
State Rep. Terry Blair, R-Washington Twp., is chairman of the State and Local Government Committee. He has heard increased rumblings from officials across government whose pay is set by state law and hasn’t been raised in years because of the recession.
Blair served as Washington Twp. trustee for 21 years and said the pay seemed fair.
“Yes, it’s a part-time job. In some townships it can be very demanding, in others it can be a routine once-a-month meeting,” he said.
Blair offered that it might make sense for lawmakers to set a cap on trustee pay, then let them determine their own salary under that cap.
“There’s some reason to say that the citizens who make up the township should have a voice in how much they choose to pay the people they elect to run their government, and they don’t have that choice right now,” he said. “I think it would be fair to consider.”
There are more than 1,200 townships in Ohio, each with three trustees.
Harrison Twp. Trustee Ron Casey said he would have to consider whether he supported having trustees vote for their own pay.
Harrison Twp. pays its trustees $20,568, which is $4,726 more than Kettering city councilmembers who oversee twice the population. Trustees also are eligible for the same health insurance as township employees, which requires a premium payment.
“I just wanted to continue to work and serve the people in the township,” said Casey, former chief deputy at the sheriff’s office and former fire chief, of why he became a trustee. “No matter what (the pay) is, I would still continue to do what I am doing.”
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