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Frederick County delegation asks to raise sheriff’s salary to $175,000, tie future increases to State’s Attorney pay
Summary
Senator Karen Lewis Young presented a delegation bill to raise the Frederick County sheriff’s salary from $125,000 to $175,000 effective 2027 and tie future increases to 82.5% of the State’s Attorney’s salary; she said the current pay is roughly 46% below peer counties and circulated a unanimous county council letter of support.
Senator Karen Lewis Young told the House Judiciary Committee that Senate Bill 533 is a delegation bill aimed at making the Frederick County sheriff’s salary competitive. She said the sheriff’s pay has not been raised since 2015 and that the county’s current salary of $125,000 is about 46% below the average salary ($182,982) of the five similarly sized neighboring counties.
The proposal would set the sheriff’s salary to $175,000 effective Jan. 1, 2027 and then link future increases to 82.5% of the State’s Attorney’s salary, a mechanism intended to avoid repeated legislative updates. Lewis Young said she has a unanimous letter of support from the Frederick County Council and urged the committee to consider the position, not the person who currently holds it.
Committee members asked whether the increase would be paid by the county (the sponsor said it would) and whether tying future adjustments to another state office removes the General Assembly’s future oversight; sponsors said the tie was chosen to create a predictable mechanism used elsewhere, and that counties vary in whether salaries are set locally or come to the General Assembly under existing code (citing Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings Code provisions). No formal vote occurred during the sponsor presentation.
