Compensation Board recommends 15% increase for sheriff

MARENGO — The Compensation Board of Iowa County recommended smaller pay increases for elected officials this year than last, but Iowa County Supervisors still wonder how they’ll be able to afford them.

The comp board recommended 10% pay increases for most elected officials last year and more than 22% for the sheriff. The Board of Supervisors agreed to half that.

Kayne Robinson, Compensation Board chairman, told supervisors last week that the comp board recommends a 7% increase for the Iowa County Treasurer, Auditor and Recorder, 6% for the Iowa County Attorney and Iowa County Supervisors and 15.6% for the Iowa County Sheriff this year.

That would increase the salaries for the treasurer, auditor and recorder to $80,628. Supervisors would make $41,623, and the sheriff, $139,849.

The part-time county attorney would make $108,000.

The 15% increase for the sheriff is a result of legislation that requires counties to pay their sheriffs wages that are comparable to law enforcement administrators and command officers of the State Patrol, the Division of Criminal Investigation of the Department of Public Safety and city police chiefs in cities with similar population.

The mandate was part of the Back the Blue bill signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2021.

Iowa County has balked at increasing the Iowa County Sheriff’s salary to the recommended amount in the last two years and now faces a 15% increase to meet the requirements of the law as calculated by the Compensation Board.

County Supervisor Abigail Maas objected to the use of Iowa State Patrol Post Commander Gregg Obbink’s salary as a comparison to drive the salary of the Iowa County Sheriff. Maas said the law is ambiguous and the comp board could use different numbers.

Robinson said there are wide differences in sheriff’s duties, and the comp board averaged salaries of many municipalities and cities similar in population to Iowa County.

“I believe this is the best we can do,” said Robinson, and the law requires it.

“We didn’t cherry pick,” Iowa County Sheriff Rob Rotter told the Board of Supervisors. The comp board based the numbers on the way the law reads, he said.

“We could have picked many higher salaries in Iowa,” said Robinson. The board could have averaged in the U.S. Marshal’s salary of $190,000, which would have doubled the sheriff’s raise, he said.

“We just took the lowest one because we thought it would be easiest,” said Rotter.

The population of Iowa County is 16,700. In both 2023 and 2024, Robinson, the comp board representative for the sheriff, averaged the salaries of Obbink, police chiefs for Newton and Indianola (cities with populations between 15,000 and 16,000) and police chiefs for Norwalk and Boone (with populations between 12,000 and 13,000).

The average of the salaries in 2023 was $133,311, which was the comp board’s recommendation for the Iowa County Sheriff. In 2024, that average is $139,849, which is the recommendation for this year.

Maas suggested that the comp board subtract the populations of Marengo and Williamsburg from the population when comparing Iowa County to other counties and municipalities because Marengo and Williamsburg have their own law enforcement.

That would take the population down to about 10,000, Maas said. She’d prefer to use that number going forward.

Robinson argued that Iowa County doesn’t compare to other areas with the same population because Interstate 80 runs through it and because of Iowa County’s proximity to the Iowa County and Coralville metropolitan area.

Robinson said that the comparable compensations he used to figure the sheriff’s salary do not represent administrators who are responsible for a jail, a civil division, nor a 911 communications center as is the Iowa County Sheriff.

That comparison of salaries described in the Iowa Code, produces an average salary of $139,849, Robinson said.

The increases suggested by the comp board would require an additional $480,000 in the county budget, said Maas. The county would need to raise taxes by 7.5% to cover the pay increases.

That estimate doesn’t take into account increased property values, changes in the property tax rollback or retirement contributions, she said.