Berks extends pay freeze for elected officials

Berks County taxpayers received an early Christmas present from the county commissioners -- well, two of them, anyway.

The commissioners voted 2-1 to keep the salaries of elected row officers the same through 2014. Now we'll find out the true meaning of "public servant."

That means the county sheriff, coroner, prothonotary, treasurer, recorder of deeds, controller, register of wills and clerk of courts will have to get by on a measly $78,566 a year.

The county commissioners themselves will not see an increase above their current $90,260 salary (already among the highest in the state.) The commissioners' chairman gets paid $92,991.

From a story in the Reading Eagle:

State law requires county commissioners to set annual salaries for 11 of the county's 12 elected county officials in the year prior to a county election.

The exception is the district attorney, whose salary is set by the state.

A previous board voted two years ago to freeze salaries at 2008 levels through 2011.

The commissioners extended that freeze at their meeting Wednesday.

Voting in favor of extending the wage freeze were Republican Christian Y. Leinbach and Democrat Kevin S. Barnhardt. Both were elected to the three-member board in 2007.

The lone no vote came from Commissioners' Chairman Mark C. Scott, who wanted to include COLA increases for the county officials in 2012 and 2013.

Read the full story by reporter Mary Young at the newspaper's Web site.