At Wednesday's Sedgwick County Commission meeting, the board approved pay adjustments for the DA's office and the Sheriff's office.
Currently, the DA's office has a vacancy rate of 17%. The board approved a 7.6% pay raise for all attorneys within the office and raised the minimum starting salary for an entry level attorney from $74,380 to $80,033 per year.
The Sheriff's office asked for a 2% pay raise to maintain competitive wages with other local law enforcement agencies. Sheriff Jeff Easter told the board past pay raises have helped retain and recruit officers and more people are applying.
The pay adjustments will cost the county an additional $403,262.63 for the rest of 2024 and an extra $1,497,831.47 in 2025, for a total of $1,901,094.10. The county says compensation contingency will be made as needed for 2024 personnel costs, while sufficient budget authority is already included in the 2025 budget for the pay raise.