Chelan County elected official debates commissioners on pay boost for Sheriff

Chelan County Auditor Skip Moore.

The Washington Citizens’ Committee on Salaries for Elected Officials has approved a 3% pay increase bringing Chelan County Superior Court Judge annual salaries to $237,460 beginning July 1.

All state elected officials, including legislators and the Governor will see their annual pay rise as well, to $67,688 and $218,744, respectively.

The Chelan County Commissioners agreed to weigh in and last week set the Sheriff’s salary at 65% of the Superior Court Judges’ pay, an estimated $154,000 a year.

The decision to increase the Sheriff's pay, plus the fact that he has had to fill two lead roles in his department due to the inability to find a qualified person to fill a deputy position, caused Chelan County Auditor Skip Moore to share frustration with the commissioners on Tuesday, "I'm going to clean up what I've got hanging out there on my side, that will probably take two to three months, and then there's no reason for me to do this anymore."

"So let's see the sheriff gets a 19% increase in his salary in two and a half years while all the other elected officials gotten when 9% salary increase in the same timeframe," said Moore at a Monday meeting with the commissioners. "Professionally, it's a slap in the face; I've reached a point where I don't need to be doing this anymore, it's counterproductive to the office and to me. You're telling professionals you don't care."

With the scheduled increase, commissioner Kevin Overbay calculated that the Sheriff will make 28% more than other county elected officials.

"The unwillingness to move the other elected officials salaries, or percentage, but the willingness to move the sheriff's (wage), shows two different processes," said Moore in referring to elected officials’ salaries that have been stagnant at 51% of the judges pay, which in July will be an estimated $121,000 annually.

Commissioner Brad Hawkins said at some point in the future there may be consideration of increasing other elected officials pay.

"I've heard that argument before, I've seen that discussion before," Moore responded. "You don't tell your kids 35 times, someday, someday, someday we're going to fix it, someday we're going to go to Disneyland."

"We appreciate all the many, many years of your service," Commissioner Shon Smith told Moore on Tuesday. "I call it service because I have taken this on personally as a public service, so we do have a different approach to this."