Gov. Phil Bryant signs bill to give Mississippi sheriffs pay raises on July 1
Mississippi sheriffs will get their first pay raise in several years, starting July 1. Depending on where they serve, the raise could be as little as $9,000 or as much as $20,000.
Gov. Phil Bryant — who started his career in the 1970s as a Hinds County deputy sheriff — signed the pay raise measure, House Bill 1409, on Friday. The new law gives more generous raises to sheriffs in smaller counties.
Each sheriff is paid based on how many people live in the county, and the law collapses eight current population-based pay brackets into five new ones.
Under current law, sheriffs’ pay ranges from $55,000 in counties with 9,500 or fewer residents to $90,000 in any county with at least 200,000 people. Only one county, Hinds, is in the current largest category, according to the Census Bureau website.
The sheriffs’ pay scale under the new law:
— $75,000 in any county with fewer than 15,000 residents.
— $80,000 in any county with a population of 15,000 to 34,000.
— $85,000 in any county with a population of 34,000 to 45,000.
— $90,000 in any county with a population of 45,000 to 100,000.
— $99,000 in any county with a population of more than 100,000.
Gulflive
3/24/14
