Pearce will receive pay increase

By: 
Nancy Grindstaff
Part way into the first day on his new job as Washington County prosecuting attorney, True Pearce took the board of Washington County Commissioners to task on his expected salary.
 Pearce had met with last summer’s county board on July 8, during the FY2025 budgeting process, successfully arguing the prosecutor’s budgeted salary proposal was less than what the current prosecutor was receiving at the time. Agreeing with him then, the commissioners raised the salary line to equal the FY2024 prosecutor’s total budgeted salary of $101,244.
 Pearce also requested his salary be increased by 4 percent, as the board had approved an across the board increase of that amount for all department heads and employees in the 2025 budget. 
 Pearce told the commissioners he was expecting the City of Midvale to contract with his office for its misdemeanor prosecution services, giving the commissioners a reason to reopen the budget, at which time he wants the 4 percent added to the $101,244 pay amount. He said there should be unspent funds available to absorb the increase since there hadn’t been deputy prosecutors in the office for at least two months.
 Washington County Clerk/Recorder Donna White submitted to the board that former prosecutor Delton Walker had added the 4 percent increase to the salary he had been paid during 2024, a little over $96,000, bringing the FY2025 annual wage to $99,000. As well, she added, the salary line totals include a cushion in case of a 27th pay period in any given year.
 “This is the commissioners meeting, this isn’t about Delton,” Pearce said. “This is about singling out one person not getting it.
 “His salary was $101,244 even if he wasn’t taking it,” he said. “In January (2024), when I put in for this, I saw the budget and it was $101,244,” adding minutes later, “I looked at the county budget, it says the pay is $101,244. That is what I ran on, that is what I won on.” 
 Commissioner Nate Marvin’s final motion to increase Pearce’s full salary to $101,244 included taking up consideration of a 4 percent increase when the budget is reopened to add the Midvale City contract. With a second from Gordon Wilkerson, the motion passed unanimously. 
The budget
 Washington County’s full 2025 fiscal year budget proposal was published under legal notices in the Weiser Signal American on pages 10 and 11 of the Aug. 22 edition, as well as on the county’s website. A front page article advised readers of the county’s public hearing scheduled on Aug. 26, along with information on the 4 percent salary increase, and from the commissioners discussion leading to the decision.
 A little more was learned in late October about events that led to the final determination of the budgets found under the justice fund title. Prior to the budget’s legal publication, the justice fund’s proposed amount was found to be over the statutory levy limit, which is capped at 3 percent on annual increases. The justice fund holds both the prosecutor’s and sheriff’s office budgets.
 During a discussion requested by Wilkerson and held on Oct. 28, it was clarified that Washington County Sheriff Matt Thomas had made cuts to his budget, including his own salary, to bring the fund back within the limit, while the prosecutor’s budget was left intact.
 

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