I was intrigued recently by the Letter to the Editor discussing Sheriff Dukes' salary as he "follows state statute" rather than having a simple contract with the County Council at an agreed-upon salary. Sheriff Dukes' salary for 2021 was $162,580.
I looked up the 2021 salaries of sheriffs in the surrounding counties. This is what I found:
Whitley County $117,836
Wabash County $98,144
Marshall County $91,125
Elkhart County $151,059 (probably "follows state statute" too)
Noble County $115,729
Average of the above $114,778
I also looked up the previous sheriff's (Rocky Goshert) salary for 2018, which was $124,295. So, Sheriff Dukes' current salary is nearly $40,000 more than his predecessor and nearly $50,000 higher than the average of the surrounding counties. I noted, too, that Governor Holcomb makes $111,688.
While I won't suggest who you should vote for, it seems that in this era of transparency, this is information that the voters of Kosciusko County should have.
