Scott County has approved two-year contracts with its correctional officers and attorneys.

The jail staff contract, which covers 2007 and 2008, boosts all salaries by 3 percent this year and 1 percent next year. In addition, about a quarter of staff will earn a special salary increase of between 1 and 2.5 percent, depending on performance.

There will be no general raise for county attorneys, whose new contract covers 2008 and 2009, However, each attorney will receive an increase to reach a salary level comparable with other county attorneys in the metro area.

This will mean an average of $6,000 to $8,000 more per county attorney, said Human Resources Director Jack Kemme.

The county decided to raise attorney salaries after conducting a study that compared the wages of its employees to those in other counties.

"We found we had pockets of people well below the market," Kemme said. "The attorney group was the farthest behind."

These adjustments were included as part of the labor negotiations with the dozen attorneys.

Salaries of correctional staff were previously adjusted to comply with the results of the market study.

However, Kemme said the county discovered after a rash of jailers were hired at the new minimum, veteran employees were often earning little more than new employees.

There were scenarios were more senior staff were making barely more than the people they were training in, he said.

"We didn’t think that was right," he said. "Because we changed the system, we had to do some clean-up."

There are 42 correctional officers.

The Scott County Board of Commissioners ratified the contracts on Tuesday.
— Shannon Fiecke