By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
DEC. 20, 2022 | Let’s hear a brisk “Hurrah” to Republican Senator Clint Dixon of Buford. Recently he announced that he would seek legislation to increase the salary of the Gwinnett County Commission chairman. The position of chair of the County Commission is the lowest in the five-county metro Atlanta area, being paid $86,920 annually.
The salary of the chairman has been low for years. At this time, prior to the Legislature opening for 2023, is the opportune time to discuss a change in the amount the chairman is paid.
Again, let’s give Senator Dixon credit for recognizing and airing the problem. He suggests tying the salary of the chair of the commission to correspond to the salary of sheriff of Gwinnett County, which is partially set by state law.
Earlier this month the Gwinnett Commission approved a $50,000 increase in salary for the sheriff, in order to bring this position in line with what sheriffs in other Metro Atlanta counties make. The sheriff’s salary would be approximately $193,000 a year. The sheriff supervises 840 employees, and is in charge of the Detention Center, which has a capacity of 2,765 inmates. It’s a big job.
Dixon
However, there is a problem with Senator Dixon’s suggestion. Down the road, any salary increase that the sheriff might get from the county commission, would mean that the chairman would automatically in effect be voting for a salary increase for the chairman’s position.
Such a conflict should not be. There are other ways to determine what the chairman is paid. For instance, tie the chairman’s salary to that of Superior Court judges. The State of Georgia sets how much judges make. In this way, the salary of the chairman could increase without a conflict of interest on the part of the Gwinnett County chairman.
Foremost in this discussion, we’re pleased to see a member of the legislative delegation take action and propose a more realistic salary for our county commission chairman. We urge the delegation to deal with Senator’s Dixon’s proposal post haste.
Here’s another hurrah: to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Last week he proposed that the General Assembly eliminate General Election runoffs.
He said: “Georgia is one of the only states in the country with a General Election Runoff.
I’m calling on the General Assembly to visit the topic of the General Election Runoff and consider reforms.”
Under Georgia state law, it requires a candidate to receive more than 50 percent of the vote in a general election to win outright. If no candidate hits that threshold, the race heads to a runoff between the top two vote-getters.
Only one other state, Louisiana, requires runoffs when no candidate receives a majority of the vote. In most other states, candidates only need to win a plurality of the vote to clinch victory, while Maine and Alaska rely on ranked-choice voting to decide elections.
What the Secretary of State does not mention is that it is extraordinarily costly to put on a runoff. It’s estimated that the recent Georgia runoff cost the state $10 million. The legislature could consider several measures, such as adopting the Ranked Choice System, already used by Georgia for mail-in military votes in the General Election; or allowing election with only 45 percent plurality, or some other reasonable choice.
Eliminating run-off elections: the time has come. Now it’s up to the Legislature to make it happen.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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