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Bannock County sheriff outlines six-year pay-scale overhaul and modest personnel requests
Summary
Sheriff Tony Manu told the commission his office has implemented a six-year pay-scale redesign to reduce rank compression and align with market pay; this year's budget seeks modest adjustments (under $300,000 total), a corporal reclassification, a full-time custodian and instructor incentives to retain certified trainers.
Sheriff Tony Manu presented the Bannock County sheriff's office and jail budget, saying a six-year effort to create a separate sheriff pay scale has largely resolved internal pay compression and made future cost-of-living adjustments simpler.
Manu said the office shortened steps within its pay scale to move from roughly 10 steps to five so promotions and market adjustments take effect sooner and reduce overlap between ranks. "We shortened the steps and the levels within our pay scale to try to achieve market value sooner," he told commissioners. He said that work was done incrementally and that commissioners and staff will schedule market reviews in November ahead of next year's budgeting cycle.
Why it matters: the change is designed to limit a longstanding problem where long-tenured deputies could earn as much as newly promoted sergeants, which created promotion and retention issues. Manu said the redesign lets the sheriff's office absorb straight percentage increases more cleanly because rank separation is clearer.
The budget request includes three personnel items the sheriff highlighted: converting a part-time custodian to full time, reclassifying an existing patrol post to corporal with an approximate $10,000 compensation increase, and modest instructor incentives. "It's not a new position. It's just changing that position into a corporal level," Manu said of the corporal request.
Manu estimated the salary-focused adjustments in this package to be under $300,000 overall. He emphasized the office is prioritizing certified positions in this year's adjustments and that administrative salaries (lieutenant and above) are salaried and not affected by step changes.
Commissioners asked for an organizational chart showing counts of sergeants, captains and lieutenants so they could see how the reclassification and rank alignment would affect structure and workload. A commissioner also noted the need for a compensation-committee review in November to validate market assumptions.
Ending: staff agreed to provide the organizational chart and to return with any additional data requested; the sheriff's office will incorporate any committee recommendations into the final budget approval schedule.
