New Missouri Law Rewrites How Much County Officials, Prosecutors Paid

Crawford County’s system for setting the salaries of elected officials will change under a new Missouri law that also creates several provisions aimed specifically at third-class counties.

The law means many county officials are likely to make more money as new terms begin, but it does not guarantee an immediate raise for every officeholder. 

The state has increased the salary amounts tied to a county’s assessed valuation and created a new system for future increases as property values grow. 

Actual pay will still depend on an official’s current salary, when a new term begins and decisions made by the county salary commission.

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 1825 into law July 13. 

The legislation, sponsored in the House by Rep. Danny Busick (R-Newtown) and handled in the Senate by Sen. Sandy Crawford (R-Buffalo), takes effect Aug. 28.

The 28-page bill rewrites 14 sections of state law dealing primarily with county classifications, salary schedules and county salary commissions.

For Crawford County — a third-class county — one of the most significant changes is a new set of salary schedules for county commissioners and a number of other elected offices, coupled with a new formula that can adjust those salaries as a county’s assessed valuation grows.

Counties are assigned class status based on total assessed valuation increased to about $394.2 million in 2024. 

Under HB 1825, county commissioners whose terms begin after Aug. 28 will fall under a substantially expanded salary schedule based on assessed valuation. A county with an assessed valuation between $350 million and $400 million falls into a $37,700 salary tier for commissioners. 

Presiding commissioners in noncharter counties receive an additional $2,000.

The change will affect the salaries of all three Crawford County commissioners. Presiding Commissioner Steve Black’s new term is set to begin in January.

For several other county offices, including county clerk, collector, assessor, treasurer and recorder, the new schedule places a county with an assessed valuation between $350 million and $400 million in a $57,100 tier. The same schedule applies to certain public administrators and county auditors where those provisions are applicable.

Those figures are not necessarily what Crawford County officials will actually be paid, though. The law uses the applicable assessed valuation when salaries are calculated, and Crawford’s valuation could move into another bracket before a particular official begins a new term. The county salary commission also continues to play a role in setting compensation.

The law further prevents a salary adjustment made after Aug. 28 from reducing an official’s existing pay. 

If an official is already making more than the amount contained in the new statutory schedule when the law takes effect, that salary is protected, although future increases are restricted by the new assessed-valuation provisions.

HB 1825 also establishes a new annual adjustment mechanism tied to growth in assessed valuation. Salaries covered by the law are to be reviewed on the anniversary of an official’s term, with the size of an adjustment calculated from the county’s year-over-year assessed-value growth. The formula reduces the percentage of valuation growth translated into salary growth as assessed values rise more rapidly, and an adjustment cannot push an official into or above the salary assigned to the next valuation bracket.

The salary commission also gains broader authority to raise compensation above the statutory schedules. Previous language limiting such an increase to $2,000 is removed. Any such increase must be approved by a majority of the salary commission and apply to all county offices subject to the commission. The coroner’s compensation can separately be increased by as much as $14,000 above the statutory schedule.

The law makes another distinction specifically for third- and fourth-class counties when setting pay for prosecuting attorneys.

A full-time prosecuting attorney in a third- or fourth-class county will receive compensation equal to 100% of an associate circuit judge’s compensation. A county commission may instead, by majority vote, set the prosecutor’s compensation at 95% of a circuit judge’s salary.

A part-time prosecuting attorney may be paid between 30% and 60% of the compensation of an associate circuit judge.

The law includes a grandfather provision prohibiting a prosecuting attorney who held the office before Jan. 1, 2027, from having his or her compensation lowered as a result of the new system.

It also creates a new option for counties struggling to fill a prosecutor vacancy. If the position has been vacant for more than 60 days, that county and one neighboring county may unanimously agree to create a cooperative regional prosecuting attorney’s office. The prosecutor in the neighboring county would serve the region until the end of that prosecutor’s term or until the governor fills the vacancy.

HB 1825 also changes who gets a seat at the table when county salaries are considered.

Under previous law, both the sheriff and prosecuting attorney were members of a noncharter county’s salary commission. The new law removes both from the standard membership.

There are exceptions. Prosecutors and sheriffs remain members in counties with populations between 150,000 and 200,000, and a part-time prosecuting attorney remains a member of the salary commission in any county using a part-time prosecutor.

For Crawford County, that means the sheriff will no longer serve on the salary commission. 

The law also requires a salary commission to meet at least once before Nov. 30 in every odd-numbered year, while expressly allowing commissions to meet during even-numbered years as well. Meetings and votes remain open to the public.

HB 1825 also changes the underlying system Missouri uses to determine county classifications.

Third-class counties are generally those with assessed valuations below the threshold for second-class status. The legislation requires the assessed-valuation thresholds for county classifications to be increased each year by the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or remain unchanged if inflation is negative. The State Tax Commission will calculate and publish the new thresholds.

That could have a long-term effect on Crawford. Instead of Crawford automatically moving closer to second-class status whenever its assessed valuation grows, the threshold it must reach will now rise with inflation as well.

The legislation is expected to carry costs for county governments, although the exact amount is uncertain. The final legislative fiscal note estimated the statewide local-government impact at anywhere from zero to more than $1.08 million in fiscal year 2027 and potentially more than $1.27 million annually in each of the following two years.