By Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – Once again, people who supported Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson turned the relatively uneventful commission meeting this week into a series of multiple tense exchanges.
While much of the regular agenda business dealt with bridge and culvert replacements, one item was a continuation of a presentation from the Dec. 5 meeting by Human Resources Director Carey Deaver on 2024 salary increases for elected department heads.
At that time, Deaver gave a briefing and reminded commissioners that they budgeted for a 5% raise in the 2024 budget.
Several people spoke on the 5th in support of Anderson, who asked for a larger raise.
The year before, the commission had voted for a 14.5% increase for county employees, and, at that time, the newly elected Anderson asked to also receive that raise to her base salary for newly elected officials, even though she wouldn’t begin her duties for three months after that.
Anderson, herself, was not at this week’s meeting, but three of the four people who commented on the auditor salary this week, mainly mentioned the discrepancy between what previous appointed auditor Ben Kyte was making versus Anderson’s wage.
Kyte was appointed in 2021 to replace the retiring elected auditor Bob Litz.
And while the question from Anderson’s supporters was never specifically answered, Commissioner Gerald Beninga did speak to Kyte’s extensive experience as a senior financial officer at Citibank.
“I think comparing the current auditor’s experience with the former auditor’s experience is not even close to being the same,” Beninga said. “You’re talking about an individual that was running a multibillion-dollar company with thousands of employees, with government experience, with bonding experience, with accounting significance that’s not comparable with what the current auditor has.”
Commission Chair Jean Bender added that since the elected auditor’s salary was published, Anderson should have known what the job paid before she ever ran for office.
At the previous meeting, Anderson again asked for last year’s 14.5% increase. She also said she wanted the additional 5% increase the commission was currently talking about for 2024.
Although, she did add, that whatever the pay, she would continue to do the duties of the job.
But after comments from the audience, when commissioners discussed the direction of future salary talks, remarks made by Commissioner Joe Kippley did not go over well with Anderson’s people.
He did not mince words in referring to problems they had with Anderson since last April when she assumed her position.
Kippley then referred to a conference call on Monday, Dec. 4, with Election Systems and Software of Omaha (which sells the ballot tabulating machines the county uses) along with South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson, and Anderson. On that conference call the Minnehaha County Auditor had over two dozen of her supporters sitting in the room listening to the call, but she did not announce their presence until the end of the meeting, according to a story in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
Kippley said that Anderson “embarrassed the county.”
“This was unprofessional and not the way to do business,” he added.
He did ask Deaver to draft a resolution with a 7.5% pay increase for all department heads.
He also added that he wanted to see an additional resolution with 7.5% for others, and a “0% increase for the auditor.”
Singling out one person for a raise or freeze is not unheard of, as the commission had most recently done that to former county treasurer Pam Nelson after a bad audit report from the state.
Commissioner Jen Bleyenberg also asked Deaver to prepare a resolution with just the originally suggested 5% raise.
When members of the audience came up later in the meeting during regular public comments, several of them directed their ire at Kippley.
However, Bender did caution those speaking that this was the time for comments about things not on the agenda, since all agenda items had time for public comments built in.
And most of the speakers did center their comments on overall election integrity, although one woman who spoke interrupted her comments to say, “Kippley, are you listening?” to which Bender admonished her to be respectful.
Another speaker did what Bender told everyone not to do and made her comments all about the previous salary agenda item.
Upon the commenter ignoring Bender’s caveat, she was asked to sit down several times, but continued her remarks until a sheriff’s deputy approached her at the podium.
The final vote on raises for elected department heads will be taken next week, Dec. 26, but from what commissioners asked Deaver to prepare, it seemed that Anderson’s requested 19.5% raise would not be an option.
Like all others, that meeting will begin at 9 a.m. on the third floor of the Minnehaha County Administration Building.
