Iowa County supervisors split over how to implement compensation‑board recommendations for sheriff pay
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Summary
Supervisors debated three options for sheriff compensation after differing legal opinions: follow the county attorney, adopt a 16% 'back‑to‑blue' recommendation, or average three comparator groups (producing a 5.7% increase). Members raised litigation risk and agreed to a focused sit‑down to reconcile comparables.
Unidentified Speaker 1 (Board member) opened an extended discussion about how to apply the compensation‑board comparables to sheriff salaries following a new county‑attorney opinion and an earlier Attorney General discussion. The speaker presented three options for the board: follow the county attorney’s interpretation and keep current certification; accept the compensation‑board recommendation (the speaker characterized that as roughly 16%); or average the three comparator groups prescribed in the law (state patrol, division of criminal investigation and municipal chiefs), which the speaker said yields an average salary of about $132,974 and a 5.7% increase.
Other board members disputed details of the comparator sets and the method used to average them, with repeated back‑and‑forth about whether to include certain state patrol ranks or DCI positions. Unidentified Speaker 3 (who identified as the county’s sheriff during the exchange) defended department staffing and revenue offsets and warned that reducing services could affect 24‑hour coverage. Unidentified Speaker 1 noted litigation risk: "I want this this is 1 of those things where... I'm aware there's rumblings of potential lawsuits" and urged unanimity if the board moves on certification.
No final certification decision was taken. Instead the board agreed on a procedural next step: a focused, in‑person meeting to reconcile the comparables, review the exact lists used by the compensation board and the county attorney, and attempt to reach consensus before any final wage certification. Board members proposed including the compensation‑board representative and the sheriff’s office or chief deputy in that sit‑down; scheduling options were discussed for late March. The conversation emphasized that two distinct decisions remain: what salary the board certifies and how much funding the budget will allocate to the sheriff’s office.
The meeting closed without a final vote on certification. The scheduled follow‑up sit‑down is intended to clarify comparables and narrow the risk of litigation before the board takes a formal, recorded action.