When Park County’s elected officials are sworn or re-sworn into office next year, they’ll generally be earning the same amount of money as the current officials have over the past four years.

At their Tuesday meeting, Park County commissioners unanimously decided to leave the pay flat for the next four years for the sheriff, clerk, assessor, treasurer, clerk of district court, coroner and commissioners. However, they did vote to hike the county attorney’s salary by about $12,500.

Park County Assessor Terry Call put together a presentation on elected official salaries in preparation for budget discussions and concluded that county officials earn above the median in most cases and have quite generous benefits; Call added that those are needed to attract and keep employees in a county becoming ever more expensive. However, he said the sheriff and especially the county attorney are lagging behind in pay compared to counties with similar populations and property valuations.

Park County and Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric — who is not expected to seek reelection — currently makes $115,000. That salary ranks 10 among the state’s 23 counties, while Park County has the eighth highest population and ninth largest valuation. 

The median wage for a county attorney in Park and four counties with similar cost of living (Campbell, Natrona, Lincoln and Albany) is $117,000 and the average is $120,000, Call said.

Commissioners voted unanimously to raise the county attorney’s salary to $127,476 to match what’s currently being paid to the office’s top deputy attorney.

“I’m not OK when the county attorney makes less than the deputies he hires,” said Commissioner Dossie Overfield, who made the motion to up that salary while keeping the others the same. 

Commissioner Scott Mangold pointed to another sign that the salary needed to rise, asking, “How many candidates do we have for county attorney?” 

No one had heard of anyone announcing a run for county attorney at that point, amongst a deluge of announcements for other county elected positions.

As for Sheriff Darrell Steward, who is planning on seeking another four years, he’s receiving $94,000, which ranks 11th in the state. The eighth- and ninth-highest counties for population size and valuation, pay the position $102,000 and $100,000, respectively.

Steward remains the highest paid position in the department, and although his salary is well below that of the Cody police chief at $126,000, Call said the county’s benefits, from retirement to healthcare, are at least equivalent to the city’s and better than most other counties.

The county’s other elected officials — clerk, clerk of district court, assessor and treasurer — also make $94,000, which is exactly the median compared to the four similar cost of living counties and seventh highest in the state overall.

Commissioners make the sixth highest salary in the state at $36,174, which is again the median salary compared to the other four similar counties. The coroner earns $44,000.

Though he supported the motion, Commissioner Lloyd Thiel added a caveat that if voters approve a November ballot question to cut residential property taxes by 50%, the county may need to make personnel cuts to deal with a large revenue decrease in the next budget.