Kosciusko County judges making their case for stipends for probation officers Tuesday, Aug. 19, to the Kosciusko County Council are, left to right, Karin McGrath, Torrey Bauer, Matthew Buehler and Chris Kehler. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Four of the five Kosciusko County judges went before the County Council Tuesday, Aug. 19, to lay out their case for $10,000 stipends for each of the 11 probation officers for 2026, with the funds coming out of user fees.

By a vote of 5-2, the council approved the stipends, with some caveats.

The probation department has been seeking raises for its officers since earlier this year as the officers are underpaid, according to a study, and it’s difficult to fill open positions with quality probation officers at the pay that’s currently offered. The officers, along with Superior Court II Judge Torrey Bauer, appeared before the council in April and May seeking an additional appropriation of $189,293.80 for 2025 to cover an increase in wages, covered by user fees. The request was denied May 8 on the advice of Reedy Financial Group, the county’s financial consultant.

The half-hour discussion Tuesday started toward the end of the portion of the second day of the council’s budget hearings on wages and salaries.

Council President Tony Ciriello said all the council members received information Monday, Aug. 18, from Superior Court I Judge Karin McGrath on salaries for probation. Salaries for probation are mandated by the Indiana Judicial Conference.

“There is an enforcement level on probation officers since they are considered state employees and fall under state rules and one of the state rules is Gov. Braun says no pay increases for them for ’26,” Ciriello said. “So, even though they are considered state employees, they are paid by county funds so we may choose to do whatever we wish to do.”

He pointed out they’ve had many discussions about the probation officers’ salaries many times and there have been discussions about doing stipends for them out of the user fees that are collected. He said it was up to the council to decide what they wanted to do, but a decision had to be made before the council’s October meeting when the 2026 budget would be approved. The options for the council would be to accept the 2026 mandated salaries as they are, do the stipends or give the probation officers the same 2% increase that the rest of the county employees will receive.

Circuit Court Judge Matthew Buehler said the judges have discussed putting forward a stipend for their probation officers at various amounts. Bauer said the stipend would not come out of the county general fund, but probation user fees. They had contacted the general counsel of the Indiana Supreme Court on how to proceed and were waiting for a response on a few questions, but she pretty much agreed on the judges’ reading of the state statutes.

As for the amount of the stipend, Bauer said, “It’s a year-to-year assessment,” but for this year the number they tossed about was $10,000 across the board for each probation officer.

“That would amount to $110,000 out of an account that is set aside for that purpose. It presently has $650,000 in it,” he said.

Superior Court IV Judge Chris Kehler said that fund would be replenished within the next 12 months by user fees. Bauer said, historically, around $250,000 per year comes back to the user fees fund. Ciriello asked if that stipend amount could change year to year, and he was told it could.

“We would take a look at what user fees came in. If it’s a down year and the fund is getting lower, that would obviously change things,” Kehler said.

Bauer said every year they would look at what’s available, what the state mandated raise is, etc., to ask the council for the appropriate money out of the user fee fund.

“Every year we’re going to re-evaluate it because we might have more probation officers, so that could adjust how we think,” he said.

What happens on year one does not have any effect on any subsequent year. Council Vice President Kathy Groninger said that needed to be verified because when she and County Auditor Alyssa Schmucker looked at stipends prior to Tuesday’s discussion, they found once a stipend is given it becomes part of the officer’s salary and it can’t be lowered.

Schmucker said, “What will happen is that stipend will go into their wage for the next year. And then, if they decide next year they’re going to do $1,500 instead of $10,000, then that goes to their wage. So, you’re not ever going to decrease their wage. It’s either going to stay the same, or they’re going to ask for an additional stipend. Or, there will be no stipend.”

Kosciusko County Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell said, “You can never reduce the wage of the probation officers. And if that stipend is considered part of their wage, which, according to something else Alyssa had received, that amount would then have to be paid to them every year.”

Schmucker reiterated that the stipend would become a part of the probation officers’ wages. Bauer said while they’d like to talk about it to the general counsel, the probation officers are the judges’ employees and “we set their salaries.” He said he believes they have the constitutional authority to offer the probation officers different amounts of stipends each year, and can reduce it down to the mandatory minimum set by the Indiana Judicial Conference if they want.

“I don’t think you can compare what happens with county employees with what happens to our employees,” Bauer stated.

Probation officers are state employees paid by their respective county, he reiterated. Probation is technically not a county department, so fairness to other county employees does not come into play. Chief Probation Officer Tammy Johnston reminded the council there currently are two open positions that have been budgeted in the county general fund that haven’t been filled. She said the money is there for the positions but it hasn’t been used for this year.

After some further discussion, Councilwoman Kimberly Cates made a motion “to allow the judges to do the stipend up to the $10,000 per person, all inclusive of all the costs (FICA, Medicaid, etc.) of the employee, on the condition that, one, it’s not a locked-in mandatory salary … and, two, it comes out of the fees fund, and it’ll be evaluated each year and it’s totally stand alone. And it would be on you guys to give us the information and to trust you, as you say we’re not going to be on the hook for that or any cost of that, and it’s a one-time thing.”

Councilman Delynn Geiger seconded the motion, which passed 5-2. Ciriello and Groninger voted against the stipends. Ciriello said he thought the $10,000 was too high, while Groninger said she wanted more information.