COEUR d'ALENE - Despite criticism from other Kootenai County elected officials, the county commissioners say they are justified in some recent employee raises.

"I was disappointed, because they misstated some facts," said Commissioner Dan Green.

Pay increases the commissioners gave to four of their department employees this year were questioned in a May memo signed by county elected officials, including the treasurer, assessor, coroner, clerk, sheriff and prosecutor.

Those raises, the document states, followed the commissioners' earlier advising to county officials that no pay increases would occur through fiscal year 2012.

"This mismatch between the BOCC's words and the BOCC's actions regarding salary increases is not just demoralizing ... It undermines 'cost effective government the community can be proud of,' in our vision statement," the document reads.

The memo also criticizes that two raises given with promotions were not presented to the county's position review committee.

The document asks the commissioners to rescind the office workers' raises of 7, 9, 10 and 17 percent.

"They have the authority (to give the raises), but the question the six of us raised is, why are you giving 7 to 17 percent?" said Clerk Cliff Hayes on Thursday. "The county employees have not had a raise as a general rule given out for two years."

Hayes noted that the raises followed a commissioners' announcement in April that they had eliminated 10 positions to save tax dollars, including a secretary position in the commissioners' office.

"They eliminated one position in their office, took the money and gave it to the four," Hayes said.

Sheriff Rocky Watson said he signed the memo because he considers his employees to have been overlooked for much-needed raises.

"For 12 years we've been dealing with a high turnover because of Spokane County paying $1,000 more a month than us," Watson said. "For that issue to go unaddressed while they're taking care of their own issues is frustrating."

The commissioners said they have spoken with the officials about the memo.

Some of their concerns were invalid, said Commissioner Jai Nelson.

A portion of the secretary position's salary was distributed in four raises, she said, because of the extra workload the other employees had to pick up.

"We looked at our staff and their pay schedules, what they were doing now with their increased duties," she said.

Not all the commissioners, she added, had previously discouraged raises for other employees.

"I remember discussing increases," she said.

Many county employees have received raises over the past few years, Nelson added, whether through promotions, to address increased duties or other reasons.

"It was quite surprising," she said.

According to county pay rate reports, 250 of 709 employees received pay increases between October, 2008 and June, 2011.

That includes 12 employees given raises in the assessor's office; 47 in the commissioners' office; 18 in the clerk's office; 15 in the prosecutor's office; and 158 in the sheriff's department.

Commissioner Dan Green said the memo was incorrect in stating that the promotions they awarded should have gone before the position committee, which is only required for newly created jobs.

Other departments have salvaged funds from eliminated positions to give raises, he pointed out.

"That's what disappointed me (about the memo)," he said.

Prosecutor Barry McHugh preferred not to share his current thoughts on the raises.

But he felt the commissioners addressed the issues when they spoke with the other officials.

"It really cleared the air," he said.