AUSTIN — A contentious year between the county board and Auditor-Treasurer Doug Groh came to a close at Tuesday’s board meeting with commissioners making a blunt assessment of Groh’s job performance.

Not only did the board freeze Groh’s 2014 salary at $69,374 while increasing pay for County Attorney Kristen Nelsen, Sheriff Terese Amazi and Recorder Jill Cordes, but the board also hinted it would have decreased Groh’s salary if possible.

“Minnesota statute does not permit the reduction of an elected official’s salary during current term of office,” Commissioner Tony Bennett said, reading from a prepared statement. Bennett sits on the personnel committee. “Based on this law we will not be recommending a decrease in pay.”

In July, the Office of the State Auditor filed a report after an investigation into a $500 cash shortage discovered in the auditor-treasurer’s office on Oct. 11, 2012.