Last week, when the commissioners voted an across the board 2.2% pay raise for all elected county officials, it was learned that Sheriff Craig Zanni is the lowest paid sheriff in Oregon and even earns less than his sargeant. The BOC will hold a work session this afternoon at 3:30 in the commissioners courtroom to discuss the $22,000 gap between Coos County and the next lowest paid sheriff.
One of the arguments used to justify the 2.2% raise is that Coos County officials salaries are not competitive with other “like” counties and Commissioner John Sweet said that we need to pay to keep good people. This is certainly true of the rank-and-file but if someone campaigns for an elected position with the expectation of receiving a prevailing wage in a cash strapped county, then something is wrong.
Bearing in mind that the sheriff along with the district attorney require a very specific skill set and level of education and experience not required of most of our elected county officials, there may be very valid reasons for giving Zanni a raise. Personally, I would have no objection to raising the sheriff’s salary assuming there is a way to fund said raise but I object to the rationale used to justify the across the board raise given last week. What other counties pay their officials has absolutely nothing to do with what Coos County pays.
UPDATE The sheriff received a modest raise today in order to be in compliance with a state law that requires the sheriff to earn more than his highest paid staff member. Zanni is still earning below $6K a month but the county is no longer violating the law.
