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If voters were to approve the proposed petition seeking to add more Jackson County commissioners, would the county budget automatically add more payroll or just split their pay five ways instead of three? — Cathy, Medford If voters approved making the Jackson County Board of Commissioners a quintet rather than a trio, the answer to the new elected positions’ salaries would be something for county commissioners to decide, according to Jackson County Administrator Danny Jordan. In an email, Jordan said he and his staff have not yet been directed to review the numbers related to a proposed ballot initiative filed by Medford City Councilor Kevin Stine, which seeks to expand the number of county commissioners from three to five, but Jordan said in an email that the payroll budget wouldn’t automatically increase. “If there were additional expenses for this or any other issue, it’s a matter of budgeting from available funds,” Jordan wrote, adding that he “won’t speculate how the Commissioners would want to proceed at this point.” For the fiscal year 2018-19, a county commissioner’s pay scale starts at $92,352 per year. That’s the same as any other county employee classified at the first step of the “Director-I” pay scale, according to Jordan. The proposed petition, one of two Stine submitted, could be cleared this week by the county clerk to begin collecting signatures. Stine separately filed a petition that would make county commissioners a nonpartisan elected position. Stine said last week that the expansion would allow greater flexibility on quorum rules and “simply makes more practical sense,” arguing that communication can flow more freely if commissioners were able to have conversations outside formal meetings — something not currently possible because two of three is a majority. Lane, Clatsop, Hood River, Clackamas and Multnomah counties all have five-member boards of commissions, according to Stine. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to [email protected]. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.