Salaries Set For Mills County Elected Officials

Some Mills County elected officials will be getting pay raises on July 1 and some will not.

The Mills County Board Of Supervisors took formal action Tuesday morning to set the salaries of elected officials for fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1. The action came after supervisors met face to face with each elected official last week to discuss salary increases, duties and staffing at each office.

The salary for Mills County Sheriff Greg Schultz was a major focus of the salary discussions. He’s getting a salary increase of more than 26 percent as the county works to become compliant with “Back The Blue” legislation signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2021. The measure requires county sheriffs to be paid salaries comparable to other law enforcement officers in the state.

While the county’s three supervisors all voiced support for giving the sheriff a substantial increase in salary, there was some disagreement on how much the pay raise should be for Schultz, who currently makes $103,000.

“I would recommend following the Back The Blue law,” Supervisor Jack Sayers said. “We have to give a semi-large increase just because of that law. With that, I would recommend $120,000.”

Supervisor Lonnie Mayberry proposed a larger increase.

“Personally, I think we should give him $130,000,” he said.

Population-wise, Mills County ranks 53rd in the state of Iowa, and its current sheriff salary is ranked 68th, according to the Iowa Association Of Counties.

Schultz said the Back The Blue legislation uses a formula that is open for interpretation. He was asked by Supervisor Richard Crouch what impact the board’s salary decision would have on the sheriff’s ability to retain deputies, whose salaries are based in part on what the sheriff is making.

“Do I think it makes a difference, absolutely,” Schultz said. “Do I think it’s (lower salary increase) going to cause my workforce to walk away, most likely not. But, then it’s up to me to keep that workforce environment where it needs to be.”

Crouch said the Back The Blue legislation is another unfunded mandate handed down to counties by the state.

“If the state would have chipped in some percentage of what we needed to do, it would have made it a lot better for the taxpayers and the people,” he said.

Following last week’s discussion, the supervisors voted Tuesday morning to increase Schultz’s salary to $130,000.

Along with Schultz, three other Mills County elected officials are getting a pay raise on July 1. The salaries for County Treasurer Melissa Loghry and County Recorder Lori Murphy will increase by 2.5% to $77,285 and County Auditor Amber Farnan’s salary is going up 3% to $78,733.

The salaries for the three county supervisors and Mills County Attorney DeShawne Bird-Sell will not be increased. Sayers noted Mills County’s current pay for supervisors, $44,300, ranks 27th in the state for three-member boards.

“Personally, my opinion, I would like to see us not take an increase,” Sayers said.

Mayberry and Crouch said they were fine keeping the supervisor salary at the current level.

Sayers said Bird-Sell’s $117,000 salary ranks second in the state for county attorneys classified as part-time. The county attorney position is classified as part-time in Mills County, Sayers said, so the attorney is allowed to maintain a private practice. Mayberry said although the position is classified as part-time, the county attorney and her staff work full-time hours.

Setting the salaries for elected officials is one step in the county’s budget process.

A public hearing will take place April 22, 8:20 a.m., in the board of supervisors’meeting room at the county courthouse.