Perry Co. sheriff sues commission over pay, seeks compensation

Editor's Note: This story has been edited to correct a salary listed in the lawsuit.

Perry County Sheriff Gary Schaaf has taken the county commission to court, charging commissioners repeatedly underpaid him in violation of state law for more than two decades.

The civil suit, filed in Perry County Circuit Court late last month, seeks more than $25,000 plus interest. It also requests the court compel the commission to set Schaaf's salary at an amount that factors in proper salary adjustments.

The suit was filed against five current and past commissioners, including new Presiding Commissioner Mike Sauer and past presiding commissioner Carl Leuckel, and Perry County government.

Sauer said Thursday county officials had "no comment" regarding the suit.

Since 1997, the commission has paid the sheriff less than required under the Missouri Constitution and state statutes, according to the civil suit filed by Schaaf's attorney on Dec. 28, 2018.

Jackson attorney John Loesel represents Schaaf. In the suit, Loesel wrote the longtime sheriff should have been paid a salary of $46,000 in 1997, but was only paid $34,116.17.

The sheriff "has been further damaged" in that regular salary adjustments were based on the 1997 salary. If commissioners had paid Schaaf the proper salary in 1997, his salary would now "well exceed the statutory minimum from said adjustments," the suit contends.

"The nature of plaintiff's damages are ongoing in that to this day his salary is well below what it should be were defendants in compliance with Missouri law," the suit charges.

According to the suit, Schaaf demanded commissioners pay him what is owed, but they refused.

"Plaintiff has been damaged by the erroneous and unlawful salary determinations by defendants, and has no other adequate remedy at law," Loesel said in the petition.

The minimum salary for an elected sheriff in a third-class county is mandated by the Missouri Constitution and state statutes, Loesel said in the lawsuit.

Article VI of the state constitution states, "Except in counties which frame, adopt and amend a charter for their own government, the compensation of all county officers shall either be prescribed by law or be established by each county pursuant to law adopted by the general assembly. A law which would authorize an increase in the compensation of county officers shall not be construed as requiring a new activity or service or an increase in the level of any activity or service within the meaning of this constitution."

Chapter 57.317 of state statutes provides county sheriffs, other than those in chartered counties, will receive annual salaries tied to assessed valuation.

In counties with assessed valuation of $190 million to $249.9 million in 1997, the mandated salary was $46,000, according to the state law.

Judge Michael Gardner has scheduled a "case review" on the lawsuit for April 19 in Perry County Circuit Court.

Schaaf has served as Perry County sheriff since Jan. 1, 1993. He previously served as the police chief of Perryville, Missouri.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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