Johnston Commissioners Approve Their Own 5% Pay Raise
SMITHFIELD, N.C. – Johnston County commissioners have approved a 5 percent pay raise for themselves as part of the county’s new $434.9 million budget, which takes effect July 1.
The salary increases were included in the fiscal year 2026-27 spending plan but were not specifically identified during public budget workshops, the public hearing or the meeting where commissioners unanimously adopted the budget. Details of the commissioners’ compensation were obtained by JoCoReport through a public records request.
Commissioners approved giving themselves a 5 percent salary increase effective July 1. County employees will receive the same overall increase — a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment on July 1, followed by a 2 percent merit increase on Oct. 1.
Board Chairman Patrick Harris’ annual salary will increase from $33,588.24 to $35,287.80, an increase of $1,699.56.
Vice Chairman Butch Lawter and the county’s other six commissioners will each receive an increase from $26,833.20 to $28,190.96, an annual raise of $1,357.76.
Commissioners also receive annual travel allowances. Harris receives $8,400 each year, while the other six commissioners receive $6,600 annually.
Including the travel allowance, Harris’ total annual compensation will increase to $43,687.80. The remaining commissioners will each receive $34,790.96 in salary and travel compensation.
In addition to their salaries, commissioners are eligible for county-paid employee benefits, including health insurance, dental insurance, and life insurance.
The raises come as Johnston County residents continue to feel the effects of the 2025 countywide property revaluation, which increased taxable property values by an average of 70.6 percent.
The new budget also increases several county fees. Water and sewer usage rates will increase by approximately 10 percent beginning July 1, while landfill tipping fees will rise from $48 to $50 per ton. Commissioners also approved lowering the county property tax rate by one cent, from 52 cents to 51 cents per $100 valuation.
The 51-cent tax rate remains above the county’s revenue-neutral tax rate.
While the board publicly discussed employee raises during this year’s budget deliberations, the commissioners’ own salary increases were not separately presented or discussed before the budget was adopted.
Under North Carolina law, county commissioners establish their own compensation through the annual budget process.
The fiscal year 2026-27 budget takes effect July 1.
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31 Comments
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That’s like saying a heavy set family voted to eat out again this week.
Between that and the money they get from developers, they’re doing quite well.
Gee this is no surprise! Must be nice to spend other people’s money to vote yourself a raise!
Vote them out next time I bet you didn’t get a raise.
SSI increase was less than 3% this past year I believe. Tax expendetiures need to feel the same pains.
What a wonderful thing it must be to approve your own salary increase. Hope you all are able to sleep well tonight. What a total disgrace.
I’m sure they sleep just fine. No fear of being voted out in good ole JoCo, right? Hope you are enjoying life…
If Frank Holding was a county commissioner today a lot of the shenanigans would not be happening in this county.
I thought they were aiming for more transparency….trust is still betrayed.
Their hearings are public. It’s in jocoreport.
What else would you like?
I bet their hourly wage is less than min wage.
I wish I could vote my own pay raise!!!!! We as citizens should demand that all raises for all elected individuals (President down to the local yokal) should be put on the ballot every 4 years during off elections. With the choice of 0,1,2,3 % and let the citizens you serve determine the raise you get. No more of this voting yourself a pay raise. While we’re at it, the only benefits they should get is an HMO for healthcare and a 401k with 3% match for retirement. Then they would know how a lot of us live.
What do you do for a living?
Why does it matter to you what I do for a living? It has nothing to do with them voting themselves a pay raise.
Another point, they volunteered to run for their positions, they volunteered to serve when they were elected. Last time I checked Volunteers didn’t get payed, they got the satisfaction of Volunteering.
When are you running?
All you do on here is whine.
This coming from a complainer, hypocrite!!!
THIS IS BULL CRAP 💩 NEEDS TO STOP
AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!!! VOTE THEM OUT!!!!!!!
You all voted for these folks? The have open meetings at the courthouse.they would love to hear what you have to say.
Not just voted for.. but actually RE-ELECTED them — multiple times.
And come November, the sheep will line up to make their marks on the same old same.
#reapWhatYouVote #VoteOutIncumbents
Yea, every time
Whining about 30k with all the time and effort put in by these folks. If it is so attractive to you, spend your hard earned money and run for Commissioner. People will whine and b***h about anything.
Funny how you don’t mention the county health benefits, dental, life insurance, and generous travel allowance provided in addition to salary. The total compensation is significantly higher than 30k. But you already know that, right?
1) Did you know how much teachers made prior to becoming a teacher?
2) This is not their only job for most of them. I wonder how many concise the benefits.
3). Are you going to run or just whine on social media. If you think it’s so cushy and lucrative, you should run.
I never said it was cushy or lucrative, you did, and this is not about my previous profession. I am aware they have other employment, though that is irrelevant to this discussion. My prior comment addressed that you did not provide accurate information, according to the article, to support your rant. The discussion here is giving themselves a 5% raise, not what you choose to speak about. Try to stay on topic.
Never said it was cushy.
$30K isn’t enough to live on. That’s on purpose.
You have to be independently wealthy to run for County Commissioner. That’s on purpose too.
The average joe can’t afford to quit his job and live on $30K. So the pool of people that can actually run against them is very small.
Meanwhile, the County Manager makes $300K. So it’s not that the county doesn’t have the money.
It has plenty of money. Especially since they just re-evaluated property values.
They just set it up so that the typical JoCo resident is excluded from making government policy.
Mr Lawter is not independently wealthy
Next
Seems he’s a semi-retired engineer. That gives him plenty of time and an income other than his JoCo Commissioner’s salary to live off of.
My point remains. You can’t live just on what the commissioners get paid. Which eliminates the vast majority of people in the county that have to work and support their families.
Employees only get the 2% IF there supervisor approves it with the merit. Some supervisors intentionally hold the merit values low enough to not get it. These employees work their butts off for the citizens to keep our community flowing smoothly. Now tell me what the commissioners do to automatically qualify for 5%! Let the taxpayers decide. Absolutely absurd.
Johnston County commissioners voted on June 15, 2026 to approve a 5 percent pay raise for themselves . The salary increase was passed as part of the county’s $434.9 million budget and will take effect on July 1 .This is not the first time they have adjusted their own compensation; they previously voted for large pay increases of 41% to 61% during budget votes in July 2023.
They voted themselves a raise right before the property tax increase.
They are getting prepared for the next property tax hike!
Check out all the county salaries and you will see that they are all overpaid in my opinion