News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County Sheriff Erik Smith addresses the Alpena County Board of Commissioners’ Personnel Committee on Tuesday. Smith laid out his case in why the wage scale at the sheriff’s office needed to be updated.

ALPENA — On Tuesday, the Alpena County board’s Personnel Committee signed off on a pair of substantial wage increases for employees at the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office to make up for a wage discrepancy between staff.

Sheriff Erik Smith’s wage would rise from from $58,992 — what he made as undersheriff — to $84,000, while the wage for the undersheriff position would climb from $58,992 to $73,000.

The action needs approval from the full Board of Commissioners at the Ways and Means Committee meeting.

Currently, the highest-paid deputies make in the ballpark of $55,120, Smith said, not counting overtime and retention bonuses, and sergeants earn about $66,877.

When Smith was appointed undersheriff by then-sheriff Steve Kieliszewski in 2019, Smith didn’t receive a raise that was proposed to the commissioners by Kieliszewski because the board deadlocked on the matter.

Smith took the position, anyway.

Now, Smith said, the earnings lost from not receiving a wage increase for his added responsibilities are impacting his retirement fund.

“I didn’t take the job for the money,” Smith said. “I have personal reasons and a vision on what our office needs to be and that is why I took it. That’s what drove me. But my decision to not to try to get more money is really going to hurt me for the rest of my life.”

Smith said finding a new undersheriff could be difficult because of the current compensation. He said having a wage that is different by only a few hundred dollars between some deputies and an administrator doesn’t motivate employees to take on the extra duties.

Smith said the undersheriff does not get paid overtime.

“It is my job to get the best undersheriff I can to support me and the office, and do what is right for the county, but the biggest obstacle I have in doing that is our wages are messed up at the top,” he said. “It is hard to attract a supervisor when they are making less or only $300 more.”

Smith presented a wage comparison of Alpena County’s wages to that of other sheriffs in northern Michigan. He said the sheriff in Otsego County earns $84,625 and the Cheboygan County sheriff makes $89,000.

“I think we are in the ballpark,” he said.

The committee also received updates on the search for employees to fill other positions in the county.

The county seeks to hire a pair of maintenance employees and a new human resource specialist.

County Administrator Mary Catherine Hannah said that, thus far, candidates for the maintenance jobs have not had the proper qualifications, didn’t pass background checks, or had not shown up for interviews.

“It has been a tough road,” Hannah said. “We will be going back to the starting blocks and reposting the position.

Several candidates have interviewed for the new human resource position, and Hannah said one was highly qualified for the job. She said the pay the county is offering, however, may not be enough to woo the candidate, so the committee voted to recommend increasing the pay by an additional $7,500 per year to see if that would be more adequate for the potential hire to accept. The added money would mean the new employee would make $23.45 an hour if hired.

The board also voted to advertise and fill a 911 dispatch position that will open up after one of the current dispatchers retires later this year.