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The Minnesota Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday about the Court of Appeals decision earlier this year regarding Freeborn County Sheriff Kurt Freitag’s 2019 salary.

The Appeals Court had overturned a Waseca County District Court judge’s order from August 2019 that stated the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners did not sufficiently take into account the extent of the sheriff’s responsibilities, experience, qualifications and performance when it set his salary. The Appeals Court instead stated it was satisfied that the board acted in accordance with state statute when it awarded Freitag a salary of $97,020, a 5% increase from his $92,403 pay in 2018.

Freitag’s lawyer, Steven Hovey, said the board’s decision to set the salary at $97,020 was arbitrary and that there was no explanation given during the commissioner meeting when it was approved in December 2018 about how the salary number was reached. One commissioner even testified during the trial in district court that he had no idea how the number was reached, Hovey said.

The lawyer said the district court judge found that the board did not appropriately take into account all the duties of the office of sheriff.

A few of the justices questioned why the district court judge did not take into account the commissioner’s comments regarding the financial and economic condition of the county, and Hovey said state statute says the board needed to decide the salary based on the job and duties.

Hovey said the county commissioners tried to prove that they did not have the money, though the county’s annual finance report painted a different picture.

Karen Kurth, the lawyer representing the county with the Barna, Guzy & Steffen firm, said the district court misinterpreted what could or could not be considered when making its decision when it said it disregarded economic concerns of the county. She said some of the commissioners testified in district court that they considered factors including economic conditions, Freitag’s duties and responsibilities and the materials Freitag had presented to them when making their decision.

A few of the justices said they were troubled how the commissioners offered no explanation as to how their salary figure was arrived at during their board meeting and that county boards should provide more explanation.

Kurth acknowledged there was not a good record developed and said there were likely many lessons learned.

The court will now take the matter under advisement and issue an opinion at a later date.

Freitag’s salary had been $97,020 for both 2019 and 2020 as the issue worked its way through the courts.

With the case still up in the air, the county board voted Tuesday to set his salary for 2021 at $101,010.

He is completing his sixth year in office.