County board approves resolution setting sheriff and clerk-of-court wages for 2027–2030

Unidentified Speaker 6 presented a comparative salary analysis for the sheriff and the clerk of court covering the 2027–2030 terms, explaining the methodology and comps used.

The presenter said they used a group of roughly a dozen rural counties within plus-or-minus 30% of Sawyer County's population as comparators, then applied percentage increases those counties used for similar positions in prior cycles to project likely pay levels. The presenter noted, "When you're looking at this, the only one who has approved the salaries for these two positions is Ashland. The rest of them are all calculations." The presenter cautioned that applying prior large-percentage adjustments could overstate future increases for some counties.

Board members discussed timing and whether elected officials were included in earlier adjustments; staff explained elected-official wages must be set for the full term before the election filing period and that these two positions were not adjusted in the prior correction cycles because their terms were not then up for reset.

A board member (Stacy Hessel) moved to advance the resolution to set the wages for the sheriff and clerk of court as presented; Mark Hellwig seconded. On a voice vote the motion passed ('Aye'). The board did not record individual roll-call votes in the transcript.

The resolution sets wages for the two elected positions for the 2027–2030 term based on the comparator methodology presented; specific salary amounts were included in the material handed out to the committee but were not read verbatim on the record.