VALPARAISO | When the Porter County commissioners signed off recently on a $110,500 salary next year for Sheriff Dave Lain, concern was voiced about Lain's decision to again decline the standard $1,000 raise.

Commissioner John Evans said the sheriff has declined the annual increase for a few years now and Evans was concerned that the job could fail to attract the best people if the salary falls too far behind.

The issue of public employee raises made headlines last week when Gov. Mitch Daniels urged all public employees to voluntarily forgo annual pay raises in 2009. The sheriff announced his decision to pass on a raise in 2009 before Daniels' announcement.

Lain's pay remains ahead of Tracy Brown, who serves as sheriff in Tippecanoe County, which is comparable to Porter County in population.

Brown is slated to receive $106,676 next year, which is the same amount he was paid in 2008, according to Tippecanoe County Auditor Jennifer Weston.

Eric Williams, sheriff of Vanderburgh County, which has a slightly larger population than Porter County, is slated to be paid $120,068 next year, according to that county's auditor office.

Lain said he is pleased with his salary and declined a raise for 2009, as he had during his first two years in office, because of the poor state of the economy.

Lain, who supervises a staff of about 150 employees, said his pay is based on the income of Porter County Prosecutor Brian Gensel.

The arrangement was set by the state as part of a unique contract agreement that must be approved each year by the county commissioners and council, according to outgoing County Council attorney David Hollenbeck.

The sheriff used to get paid from numerous sources, including the money left over at the end of the year from the meal budget for inmates at the county jail, Hollenbeck said. Out of concern over the potential negative impacts of that type of arrangement, Hollenbeck said county officials agreed several years ago to enter into an annual contract with the sheriff for his pay.

The approach was later adopted by the state for sheriffs across Indiana, he said.