Clackamas County cut checks totaling about $223 million to roughly 2,500 employees in 2025, with average pay landing near $89,000 and overtime still piling up in the sheriff’s office. Countywide overtime dipped compared with 2024, but a handful of deputies and sergeants booked six-figure overtime that pushed some paychecks into eye-popping territory. The timing is not subtle: the payroll snapshot lands as officials finalize nearly $2 billion in county and service-district budgets and Sheriff Angela Brandenburg prepares to retire July 27 after 35 years in uniform.
What the payroll numbers show
According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, the public payroll dataset for 2025 spells out who sits at the top of the county’s pay ladder. Medical directors, the county administrator and senior prosecutors rank among the highest-paid staff, and the data notes one-time payouts such as longevity buyouts that nudged some annual totals higher. The review also highlighted two sheriff’s sergeants whose overtime alone cracked six figures and flagged division-level payrolls that run into the tens of millions of dollars.
County budget: nearly $2 billion in play
The adopted budgets for Clackamas County and its related service districts come to roughly $2 billion in combined appropriations, according to Clackamas County budget documents. Signed off in June, the package folds the county’s general fund together with separately governed operations such as Water Environment Services and the Housing Authority, which is what pushes the total into the low billions. County finance staff say the plan aims to protect core services but also warns of lean years ahead if voters and other revenue sources do not deliver fresh funding.
Overtime fell but law enforcement still dominates
Payroll records show overtime costs in 2025 were lower than in 2024, yet the sheriff’s office still carried most of the load, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. While the county’s overall overtime bill sat in the low millions, the sheriff’s department alone logged about $6.8 million in overtime and county 911 operations added roughly $631,000. That marked a drop from the prior year’s overtime total, with the sheriff’s office trimming its own overtime outlay by about $1 million year over year.
Who pockets the big checks
Public payroll aggregators show a familiar pattern: medical directors, the county administrator and senior department heads cluster near the top of the earnings list, mirroring trends in other Oregon counties where clinical and executive roles command the biggest salaries. Those compilations roll together base pay, overtime and one-time payouts, which helps explain how the county’s wage bill climbs into the hundreds of millions. For residents who want to search individual entries, sites such as GovSalaries provide a sortable window into the numbers.
Levy fallout and public-safety pressure
"While the election results are disappointing," Sheriff Angela Brandenburg said in comments reported by KOIN 6 News, warning that voters’ rejection of a public-safety levy will force hard choices on patrol staffing and jail operations. Measure 3-633 was projected to raise about $203 million over five years. Its defeat in May leaves county leaders weighing service cuts, alternate funding options and whether to send a reworked measure back to the ballot this fall. The latest payroll figures underline why staffing levels, overtime rules and one-time payouts all loom large in those debates.
Sheriff vacancy and the campaign calendar
The County Clerk has declared the sheriff’s post vacant effective July 27 and opened a filing window from Aug. 3 to Aug. 25 for candidates who want their names on the Nov. 3 ballot, according to a county release dated July 23. Undersheriff Jesse Ashby will step in as acting sheriff while the race plays out, and the open seat is expected to sharpen political focus on how much Clackamas spends on public safety and who controls that budget. Prospective contenders are being directed to the state’s Sheriff Candidate Eligibility Review process and the county elections office for the fine print on qualifying and filing.
For residents, the payroll files offer a clearer look at where county dollars go and how pay, overtime and one-time checks tie directly into public-safety levies and budget fights. As Clackamas County works through its staffing plans, tight revenue forecasts and an open sheriff’s race, those spreadsheets are likely to get almost as much attention as the campaign mailers.
