Prosecutors are highest-paid public employee in 10 Southwest Virginia counties

BY Mac McLean

Tamara Neo will earn $109,385 per year and become Buchanan County’s highest-paid public employee when she takes over as commonwealth’s attorney Jan. 2.

“It’s an amazing privilege,” said Neo, who defeated incumbent Sheila Tolliver by 1,251 votes – 17 percent – during the Nov. 6 election.

A Virginia commonwealth’s attorney serves as the chief prosecutor in his or her county or city, and is one of a Virginia locality’s five constitutional officers; all but the court clerks, who have eight-year terms, serve four-year terms.

The average Southwest Virginia commonwealth’s attorney earned $111,500 last year.
The prosecutor is the highest-paid public employee in 10 Southwest Virginia counties, according to salary data compiled by the Herald Courier. Bristol Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney Jerry Wolfe was his city’s third-highest paid employee with a salary of $105,087.

Ronald Elkins serves as the commonwealth’s attorney for both the city of Norton and Wise County and earned $122,622 last year – second highest in the region behind Tazewell County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis H. Lee, at $125,184.

The remaining constitutional officers –  clerk of circuit court, commissioner of revenue, treasurer and sheriff – were among the top five highest-paid public employees in every Southwest Virginia city and county except Bristol, which had 10 employees who earned more than $80,000 last year – seven of whom worked for Bristol Virginia Utilities.

Local governments pay these salaries along with other expenses incurred by the office – such as the salaries for assistant commonwealth’s attorneys and deputy sheriffs – and are reimbursed by the Virginia Compensation Board.

“[Constitutional officers] are sort of independent officials,” said Robyn deSocio, the Compensation Board’s executive secretary. “They do not report to a county administrator or board of supervisors, but they do rely on these people for their funding.”

DeSocio said the Virginia General Assembly establishes a base pay rate for constitutional officers each year when it drafts the state’s budget. Local governments are free to pay these elected officials more if they choose, but are only reimbursed for the base salary amount.

She said base salaries apply to every constitutional officer in the state and depend solely on the locality’s population along with the individual’s job duties and qualifications.

The salaries do not take into consideration a community’s cost of living, or as deSocio put it, “we have no Northern Virginia differential.”

This means Buchanan County – which had a median family income of $27,328, according to the U.S. Census – receives the same amount of money from the state to pay its commonwealth’s attorney as the city of Fairfax, which had a median family income of $78,921 and a similar population in 2000.

Another thing to be taken into consideration when looking at Neo’s $109,385 salary is that she is giving up her Richlands-based private practice specializing in criminal law.

“I’m very happy with the salary,” Neo said politely, adding that she will not lose “millions of dollars” when she starts her new job.

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