LEE COUNTY – A lawsuit filed in Webster County has re-energized efforts locally to make sure Lee County is following Back the Blue legislation regarding pay for the Lee County Sheriff.
A law passed in 2021 that looked at salaries of county sheriffs, among other law enforcement advocacy issues, caused a ramping up of salaries that current Lee County Supervisor Chairwoman Ginger Knisley said isn’t sustainable.
“It’s making law enforcement unaffordable across the board for municipalities,” Knisley said.
The law says county compensation boards must do a comparison of similar law enforcement administrators across the state to “professional law enforcement administrators and command officers of the state patrol, the division of criminal investigation of the department of public safety, and city police agencies in this state's chiefs employed by cities of similar population to the population of the county.”
For the past two fiscal years, the county compensation board, which was abolished by the board of supervisors in March last year, did not provide documentation on that comparable. The compensation board is also to be using comparables to set the salaries of other elected officials including the auditor, treasurer, and recorder. Those offices require a comparison of other state, federal, and private agencies.
Specific to the Back the Blue, Knisley said she feels the compensation board, or comp board, and supervisors were legitimate in their findings for the last two years where no comparables were actually presented.
“I don’t have insight into what happened before me,” Knisley said.
“But I went back and looked at transcripts of compensation board meetings last year and it was just a matter of (Lee County Sheriff) Elliott (Vandenberg) saying he was in a fair spot to others in the state and he didn’t feel it was necessary to move his salary. That’s what the comp board took, it’s what they gave to us and what we acted on.”
“I think it was a good faith effort. It may not have been every single letter of the law as far as an actual calculation. But I think it did meet the test of comparable. I think we will be more in-depth this year, but I don’t think we were outside the law last year. Prior to that, I can’t answer to.”
The lawsuit stems from the Webster County Sheriff who claims the county board there isn’t following the Back the Blue guidelines and is suing for back pay and liquidated damages.
Lee County Vice Chairman Garry Seyb said that lawsuit is what has re-energized the discussion and he feels the law needs to be adhered to or changed.
Seyb, who has been on the board for six years and has observed comp board meetings over that time, said it was the exact same process the year before when then-sheriff Stacy Weber declined a pay raise after getting the boost in fiscal year 2023 from the Black the Blue legislation.
“It was the exact same process,” he said.
In late 2021 the compensation board, following the guidance of the new legislation, recommended a pay increase for the sheriff’s position of 45% and a 10% increase in pay for all other elected officials beginning July 1, 2023. That recommendation was approved by the Board of Supervisors, which then resulted in a 10% increase for all county staff. Despite the large one-time increase, during those budget negotiations Seyb said past supervisors had voted against pay raises and the 2023 increases put the county more in line with where staff would have been had regular increases been enacted.
The county voted in March to disband the compensation board. Knisley and Tim Wondra opposed the move. Per Iowa Code those responsibilities now fall on the board of supervisors, who have always had authority to override the compensation board recommendations in a reduction capacity only. They could not enact more than the comp board recommended, but could reduce recommendations equally across all elected officials.
Budget reviews are currently ongoing with initial budget workshops taking place Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and Tuesday next week.
Knisley said the county board will review comparables for the sheriff’s department again this year, but said the law isn’t black and white.
“Are we planning on looking at numbers for Back the Blue? Yes,” she said.
“I’ve been pulling together the enacted code and county Home Rule guidance and referencing that to be sure of what we have to be looking at. (Budget Director) Cindy (Renstrom) has emails of when it was done before, which entities were reached out to, and things like that. So yes, we are going to look at it. But it’s pretty loose.”
The law doesn’t prescribe a specific calculation, only a review.
“In setting the salary, the compensation board shall set the salary so it is comparable. It doesn’t say it must be within this many degrees of the mean,” Knisley said.
She said there was no list compiled last year comparing Lee County’s sheriff to other required agencies.
Seyb said no list was compiled in 2024 either. But he said current listings from the Iowa State Association of Counties show that Vandenberg is currently ranked 23rd in the state in sheriff salary and the county ranks 22nd in population.
“That’s only looking at sheriffs and it’s not the legal metric,” he said.
But he said it is one piece of showing that the sheriff’s salary is being considered fairly. Currently Vandenberg makes $138,199 according to Seyb, and the No. 22 ranked sheriff makes $140,290.
Seyb said he’s reached out to State Rep. Blaine Watkins and Sen. Jeff Reichman about the legislation and possibly tweaking it to include a reset so local governments can regroup on the salary increases.
“What it is causing, or what I see it causing, is a law enforcement salary race. We’re seeing it in the cities and at the county level. There’s a defined number and everyone is trying to get there through the salary. I understand the idea of the law, but it would have been nice to have a sunset or a reset,” Seyb said.
Knisley agreed.
“It’s really important for us to be advocating with our legislators about this. We hear on one side, ‘you county people are spending too much money and you’re out of control’, and then they have laws like this that make us spend the money,” she said.
“It’s just craziness.”
Seyb said he has spoken with Rep. Watkins and Sen Reichman about possibly tweaking the legislation.
Vandenberg said he is satisfied with his salary and would decline a raise, if possible.
"I havent look at or pulled any numbers. I told Garry and Ginger I don't want a raise and I would decline a raise with all my power. At the end of the day, it's the board's decision," he said.
The salaries of Administrative Major Joe Hambleton and Field Major Robert Juarez are tied to Vandenberg's.
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