Cost-of-Living Raise Lifts State’s Attorney to $176,830, Pulling Two Other Salaries Up With It

Montgomery County Board Finance & Budget Committee Meeting | July 9, 2026

Article Summary: The Montgomery County Board Finance & Budget Committee on Thursday, July 9, 2026, reviewed salary adjustments for the state’s attorney, public defender and sheriff based on a 4.1 percent cost-of-living adjustment for the state’s attorney. Beginning July 1, the three salaries are $176,830.31, $159,147.28 and $141,464.44.

Salary Adjustment Key Points:

• A 4.1 percent COLA applied to the state’s attorney’s base salary of $169,865.81 adds $6,964.50, bringing it to $176,830.31.
• Illinois law requires a county’s public defender to be paid at least 90 percent of the state’s attorney’s salary, and its sheriff at least 80 percent.
• The public defender’s salary is $159,147.28 — exactly 90 percent. The sheriff’s is $141,464.44.
• The adjustments took effect July 1, 2026; forms in the packet record county board action dated July 14, 2026.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — One raise in Montgomery County moves three salaries, and it is not the sheriff’s or the public defender’s.

The County Board Finance & Budget Committee on Thursday, July 9, 2026, reviewed the salary adjustments for the state’s attorney, public defender and sheriff, based on a 4.1 percent cost of living adjustment for the state’s attorney, according to the minutes. Beginning July 1, 2026, the state’s attorney’s salary is $176,830.31; the public defender’s is $159,147.28; and the sheriff’s is $141,464.44.

The mechanism is in the packet. A state notice of annual salary reimbursement records the state’s attorney’s base salary at $169,865.81 and the 4.1 percent adjustment at $6,964.50 — which together make $176,830.31.

From there, two Illinois statutes do the rest. Under 55 ILCS 5/3-4007, a county’s public defender must be paid not less than 90 percent of the state’s attorney’s salary. Under 55 ILCS 5/3-6007.5, the sheriff must be paid not less than 80 percent. Ninety percent of $176,830.31 is $159,147.28 — the public defender’s figure exactly.

The state reimburses a portion of these salaries. The notice puts the state’s annual reimbursement of the state’s attorney’s salary at $154,999.31, paid monthly at $12,916.61, and the public defender’s monthly reimbursement at $8,840.63.

Who Holds the Offices

Two state forms in the handouts name the officials. The public defender is Erin Mattson. The sheriff is Tyson Holshouser, who has appeared before county committees repeatedly this summer.

Both forms record county board action dated July 14, 2026 — five days after the committee reviewed them, and the date of the full board’s next meeting. Both are unsigned. Neither carries a Social Security number in the field provided for one.

The state’s attorney is not named on any form in the packet.

No Action Taken

The salary item appeared under “Other Business.” No motion was made and no vote was taken; the minutes record only that the committee reviewed the adjustments.

The committee cannot set these salaries in any event. The statutory floors are the state’s, the cost-of-living adjustment is the state’s, and the county board action recorded on the forms had not yet happened when the committee met.