Brown County Board boosts annual salaries for sheriff, clerk of the circuit court
ASHWAUBENON - Two Brown County elected officials will see their salaries increase each year beginning in 2023.
The sheriff and the clerk of the circuit court will see their salaries increase annually — the sheriff by $3,700 per year; the clerk by an escalating number that peaks at roughly $2,100 in the fourth and final year.
The sheriff's pay will increase from $119,070 in 2023 to $130,170 in 2026. The circuit court clerk will receive $83,620 for 2023 and $89,656 in 2026.
Setting salaries for constitutional officers happens every four years. The state requires salaries to be set for the position, rather than an individual, a year in advance of when the position is up for election, so pay will have been set whether Sheriff Todd Delain and Clerk of the Circuit Court John A. Vander Leest run again or not. They or their successors will be elected in April 2023.
Delain said the salary leaves him ranked in the mid-teens of Wisconsin sheriffs, despite serving the state's fourth largest county. He has not said if he plans to pursue a third term. Vander Leest didn't attend the board meeting.
There was no debate over the salary increases when they were unanimously approved by the County Board on Wednesday. That's quite a contrast from early 2020, when the County Board met to set the salaries for the county clerk, treasurer and register of deeds.
At the time, the COVID-19 pandemic had just arrived — Green Bay officials had closed City Hall that day — and supervisors were deeply divided on how long the pandemic would last and how significantly it would impact the economy in the county. A handful of supervisors projected that the pandemic would end before students went back to school; they supported salary increases of more than 3% the first year and 2% each of the remaining three years. Supervisors who feared the pandemic would last considerably longer, and supported smaller increases.
The board voted 11-7, with 8 absences, in March 2020 to reject the proposed raises and leave salaries for the three positions at $75,700. But two supervisors who had voted "no" agreed to change their votes, rendering the vote a 9-9 tie and sending the salary question back to the supervisors.
The board eventually froze the 2021 salaries at $75,700 per year, then granted 2% raises for each of the next three years.
A chart of roughly 20 years of salaries set by the county shows there have been years where the board actually reduced salaries of multiple elected officials, though it's been nearly a decade since that happened.
Veterans' Services officer honored
The Board's Human Services Committee honored Veterans Services Officer Joe Aulik Wednesday night for his work in attracting a record $4.3 million in benefits for Brown County residents who served in the armed forces.
"The older I get, the softer my heart gets," said Aulik as he looked over a proclamation from the committee. "I started to tear up."
Already, Aulik said, the office is on pace this year to break the $4.3 million record.
Contact Doug Schneider at (920) 431-8333, or DSchneid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PGDougSchneider.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Brown County sheriff and circuit court clerk to see salary raises
