Jill Schramm/MDN Sheriff’s deputy Wyatt Smith speaks in support of pay raises at the Ward County Commission’s budget hearing Wednesday. At right are commissioners Jim Rostad and Shelly Weppler.

Members of the Ward County Sheriff’s Office successfully made the case for better pay to the Ward County Commission Wednesday. Their testimony prompted commissioners to rescind a recent cut to raises proposed in a preliminary budget.

With budget changes made following Wednesday’s public hearing, the commission postponed approving a final budget until Friday. The budget of around $63 million is expected to show an increase in the property tax levy, although it should be somewhat less than the increase commissioners were looking at before making budget adjustments this past week. Previously, the budget showed an increase of about 4.9 mills or $1.7 million.

The commission heard from Sheriff’s Department deputies Connor Kircher and Wyatt Smith as well as Sheriff Robert Roed regarding salaries in the department being uncompetitive with other law enforcement agencies.

Kircher said he’s had to seek assistance because of the inability to keep up with his mortgage.

“That was embarrassing,” he said. He added the department is seeing new employees come in, only to leave once they have some experience.

“We see it time and time again where Ward County is not the department people are moving up into when they start at a smaller agency,” Smith added. “Ward County is becoming a breeding ground and a stepping stone for people to go work in other areas of law enforcement or other counties.”

Commission Chairman John Fjeldahl said the county hired an independent firm to conduct a salary study.

“We thought we were on track,” he said.

Roed responded the county did the study but did not follow through with the recommendation to adopt annual pay plan steps.

“That’s where we continue to fall behind,” he said. “If we followed the recommendations, we would be further ahead.”

Roed said starting salaries in the department are comparable to other law enforcement, but officers lose ground the longer they stay.

“We’ve got officers in small towns making more than our sergeants,” he said. “Just to let you know, in the future we’re going to be continuing to push to try to implement that step because that’s where we fall behind.”

Dana Larsen, county highway engineer, also presented data showing an inflation rate of nearly 20% since 2021, while county raises in that time add up to about 13%.

The county’s preliminary budget included a 6% raise for employees, consisting of a 3.5% cost of living increase and a 2.5% step increase. Last Tuesday, the commission decreased the raise to 4% by cutting the cost of living increase to try to reduce budget costs.

“I really hoped to pay for the 6% with other cuts in the budget,” Commissioner Jason Olson said. He had voted for the 4% when the other cuts didn’t happen, including his suggestion to eliminate $300,000 for the North Dakota State Fair. The commission discussed the $300,00 again on Wednesday but elected not to act further on the fair funding.

Olson moved on Wednesday to restore the 6% raise, equivalent to about 1 mill in property tax, or $4.50 on each $100,000 of property value.

“I know that mill is going to get passed along to everybody in the county, but I think it’s worth it,” he said, stressing the need to keep up with the cost of living and prevent staff turnover.

The commission voted 5-0 to support restoring the raises to 6%.

Fjeldahl also proposed withdrawing from the North Dakota Association of Counties, citing concerns about the association’s involvement in Keep It Local, which is opposing the ballot measure to eliminate property taxes. There was hesitancy on the commission to take action without more research because of the various services the county receives through the association that it would need to replace.

The commission voted 2-3 on the motion to remove about $40,000 in association dues from the proposed 2025 budget. Fjeldahl was joined by Howard “Bucky” Anderson in supporting the motion while Olson, Shelly Weppler and Jim Rostad voted against.

The commission also voted 3-2 to freeze commissioners’ salaries, which saves about $4,500. Fjeldahl, Olson and Anderson voted in favor and Rostad and Weppler against.