Sheriff's salary sees 15% increase due to new state law - Newton Daily News

County supervisors accept the compensation board’s recommendations with no modifications

Due to a new bill signed into state law, Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty’s salary increased by 15 percent, or $135,115 in 2022-23 from $117,491 in 2021-22. The sheriff’s raise, along with other elected county officials, was approved by the board of supervisors with no modifications during its March 29 meeting.

In June 2021, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Sen. File 342, known more commonly as the Back the Blue Act, into law. The bill included a new mandate for Iowa county’s to pay sheriffs at a rate comparable to police chiefs in cities of similar populations.

The county compensation board, which oversees all the raises for elected officials, is the group which who looked into the raise necessary to comply with the new law. The board sent a letter to the supervisors along with its recommendation explaining all the variables that were considered in its final decision.

“The board determined that in order to meet the salary of the City of Newton’s Police Chief, the Sheriff’s salary would need to be increased by 11.5 percent. To meet the average salaries of police chiefs from cities with similar populations, like Cedar Falls Bettendorf, Marshalltown and Mason City, the sheriff’s salary would need to be increased by 17.25 percent,” the compensations board’s letter to the supervisors read.

In a final note to the supervisors regarding the sheriff’s raise, the compensation board elected to split the difference and recommend a raise of 15 percent.

“The board has been pretty conservative with raises for elected officials the past few years, so this increase isn’t unexpected with the bill that was passed,” Halferty said during a later interview with Newton News. “The county is just doing what the state requires of them.”

The supervisors accepted the compensation board’s recommendations with no modifications.

All raises except Halferty’s only gave standard yearly percentage-based raises, which were approved by the supervisors with minimal discussion

• In 2021-22 county auditor Dennis Parrott, county recorder Denise Allan and county treasurer Doug Bishop were all paid $79,640 and with a 4 percent raise, they will each be paid $82,826 in 2022-23.

• In 2021-22 county attorney Scott Nicholson was paid $127,546 and with a 6 percent raise he will now be paid $135,199 in 2022-23.

• The supervisors, as they usually do, received no raise, and will continue to make their current salaries of $42,020 in 2022-23.

Contact Abby Knipfel at 641-792-3121 ext. 6531 or [email protected]

source: https://www.newtondailynews.com/news/local/2022/03/31/sheriffs-salary-sees-15-increase-due-to-new-state-law/

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