Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday approved a new contract with the county administrator that includes a salary nearly 40% higher than her initial contract in 2019.
Sarah Plinsky’s base annual salary will be $255,091, up from $185,000 when her first contract was approved five years ago. That’s an increase of $70,091, or 37.9%.
“Employee will receive annual adjustments to her salary commensurate with market and/or merit adjustments to compensation made generally to all County employees. County and/or Employee may, but are not required to, initiate a separate salary review for Employee at reasonable intervals upon request,” the contract states.
The contract includes that Plinsky must give six weeks’ written notice if she chooses to resign her position.
There are only a few changes between the two contracts. The 2019 contract included severance pay equivalent to six months of her salary, should the commission choose to terminate Plinsky’s contract; the new contract expands that to nine months.
The contract also includes county payments equivalent to 10% of Plinsky’s annual salary into a retirement account for her, and she’ll receive a $7,500 annual car allowance, no change from 2019. Altogether with the base salary, those benefits bring Plinsky’s pay to about $288,100. She’ll also continue to have a cell phone provided by the county.
Plinsky was paid $237,953 in 2023, according to county data provided in response to an open records request. Her new salary was based on an employee compensation study the county recently had completed.
The contract was initially on the commission’s consent agenda, a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved with one motion, but Commission Chair Karen Willey pulled it for discussion.
Several members of the public voiced concerns about the amount of Plinsky’s raise, though some said they appreciated that Willey had pulled the agenda item to allow public comment.
Commissioners said that as her bosses, they’d evaluated Plinsky’s performance, and that evaluation in addition to the salary study made them comfortable with the new contract. Commissioner Patrick Kelly also said some people disapproved of Plinsky’s performance based on her actions that she’d carried out at the commission’s direction.
The three commissioners approved the contract unanimously.
Plinsky’s contract is effective immediately and does not include an end date.
For comparison to other top public positions in Lawrence, City Manager Craig Owens was paid $244,733 in 2023, according to data from kansasopengov.org, and the Lawrence Public Schools interim superintendent’s salary is $194,482 for 10 months, equivalent to about $235,000 over a full year.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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