Oklahoma County officials say they will not take a pay raise for the third year in a row.  The budget board and commissioners voted to freeze salaries for the upcoming fiscal year.  But this year, a house bill was ready to make them take an increase.

This afternoon, county leaders unanimously decided to keep all 8 elected officials from receiving raises for the next year after one word was changed to a state law.  Oklahoma House Bill 2573 passed in the last session now directs basic salaries to be increased for county officers in every county in the state.

Willa Johnson, the District 1 Oklahoma County Commissioner said, "Although we're very compassionate, I think we're very conservative, I think we spend and use taxpayers dollars judiciously."

Commissioners wanted to put the issue behind them before it spiraled completely out of control.  Recently, a Fox Business program compared Oklahoma to a California town where the city manager's salary was $800,000. District 2 Commissioner Brian Maughan appeared on the program.

"The people out there making those kind of salaries, it's no wonder that they are bankrupt," Johnson explained.

Ray Vaughn, the Oklahoma County Commissioner of District 3 said, "We're willing to tighten the belt, continue to tighten the belt just like everybody else is, and we want to set a good example."

You may remember a similar situation last year when outrage started because $1 million in raises were given to staff members.

Oklahoma County officials will make the same amount of money that they have since 2008.