Clay County Auditor Sought Nearly $50K Raise — and Threatened to Quit When Talks Stalled

Clay County’s Auditor, Heather Boucher, approached members of the Board of County Commissioners individually and outside of formal process to lobby for a salary increase from roughly $114,000 to $165,000 — a raise of more than 44 percent — before the issue was finally aired publicly at a board meeting Monday night.

The revelation drew pointed criticism from Commissioner Betsy Condon, who noted it wasn’t the first time Boucher had pursued a pay bump through back-channel conversations rather than following the process laid out in her own contract.

“I am disappointed in the process that you were approached in the same way that I was,” said Commissioner Condon, who recalled a nearly identical episode in September 2023 when Boucher privately asked her — while she was serving as board chair — for a raise from $95,000 to $135,000, along with an increase in deferred compensation. “Heather knew what the process was at that time, that she should have come to us and asked to have the contract reopened.”

That 2023 request never materialized as asked. Instead, a countywide compensation study conducted by an outside firm set Boucher’s salary at $111,000. After two years of 3% cost-of-living increases in line with other county employees, her pay now sits at approximately $114,000. Boucher was not satisfied with the pay increase and never signed the paperwork documenting that adjustment. Commissioner Condon said the county’s Human Resources team ensured Boucher received the compensation despite not signing the paperwork.

Now Boucher is back — this time asking for $165,000 plus a restructured deferred compensation package tied to a percentage of her base pay rather than a flat amount. And, according to board chair Kristen Burke, when asked what would happen if she didn’t get it, Boucher said she would resign.

Commissioner’s Sgromolo and James Renninger were also approached by Boucher and were presented with the same ultimatum.

That ultimatum hung over Monday’s meeting. “If we’re reopening the contract, there really is no discussion unless she gets the 165, and you’ve already said you don’t agree with 165,” the Board Chair Kristen Burke said. “I kind of feel like I’m at a standstill here.”

The tension was palpable — and the process questions were legitimate. Under Boucher’s contract, the board holds sole discretion to adjust her salary. But that requires either a board member or the employee to formally request the contract be reopened — not a series of private conversations with individual commissioners.

Not every member was opposed to revisiting her pay. Commissioner John Sgromolo said he found $114,000 potentially low based on his own research into comparable counties, even if $165,000 struck him as steep.

Commissioner James Renninger said he valued Boucher’s work and believed there was “a way forward” — though he declined to name a number publicly despite admitting to speaking with Boucher at some point prior to the meeting.

A staff presentation offered one possible middle ground: moving Boucher to a higher pay grade with credit for her years of service, which would put her at approximately $120,500, effective October 1st.

By the end of the meeting, Boucher had walked back her threat to resign after being confronted by Chairwoman Burke. Despite having had conversations with three commissioners about her pay, Boucher stated at the meeting that she did not want to discuss numbers outside of a formal negotiation.

Three commissioners- Sgromolo, Burke, and Renninger- signaled they were willing to reopen the contract. No number was agreed upon.

Commissioner Renninger will now negotiate with Boucher and bring a proposal back to the full board for approval. Renninger did not elaborate on the criteria he will use to evaluate Boucher’s pay, nor did he state whether he will stick to the plan based on the results of the 2023 salary study.

What remains unresolved is a broader question the meeting raised but did not answer: why, twice now, has the county’s own auditor — an officer whose job is to ensure accountability and proper process — chosen to circumvent the formal process in seeking her own compensation?

Commissioner Alexandra Compere put it plainly: “The whole point of us doing that study was so that we could rectify where we had been lagging. I don’t want there to be some arbitrary figure. What is the rubric, if we’re deviating from a study we paid for?”