Bryan County Commissioners will vote next month whether to give themselves or their successors on the board a pay raise beginning in 2027.

If approved, the measure will increase the annual salary for the chairman from $18,080 to $29,500. Commissioners will see their salary go from $16,943 to $22,500. That doesn’t include pay for longevity or training, officials say.

Commission Chairman Carter Infinger said commissioners’ salaries haven’t been adjusted since 2011, and this one, if approved, “doesn’t take place for a year but we need to start the process.”

If Commissioners approve the raises, they will total $39,205 in additional spending in 2027.

The issue was raised during the Commission’s meeting Jan. 13. Under state law, an increase in compensation can’t take effect until after the next election – which in this case is in November, when the District 2, District 4 and District 5 seats on the Bryan County Commission will be up for election.

Those seats are held by Wade Price, Patrick Kitzgen and Dr. Gene Wallace, respectively.

Rezoning approved 

Also during the Jan. 13 meeting, commissioners approved rezoning various land parcels in North Bryan from their rural residential designation to light industrial at the request of the property owners, who were represented by real estate agent Holly Young. In all, the rezoning is about 32 acres.

Young told the board her clients have “been trying to court a buyer for these parcels for a couple of years but there is no market for residential in this area.”

The properties are located off Highway 280 near I-16, an area of Bryan County that with the arrival of the Hyundai Metaplant and other manufacturers has rapidly changed in character from rural to industrial.

“People are not interested in living along the Highway 280 corridor between I-16 and Highway 80,” Young said, citing safety and quality of life issues related to increases in truck traffic and noise.

She said her clients “are kind of surrounded by this, and they need to relocate.”