1. Each public administrator in counties of the second, third or fourth classification and in the City of St. Louis shall make a determination within thirty days after taking office whether such public administrator shall elect to receive a salary as defined herein or receive fees as may be allowed by law to executors, administrators and personal representatives. The election by the public administrator shall be made in writing to the county clerk. Should the public administrator elect to receive a salary, the public administrator’s office may not then elect to change at any future time to receive fees in lieu of salary. Every public administrator who begins his or her first term on or after January 1, 2023, shall be deemed to have elected to receive a salary as provided in this section.

2. If a public administrator elects to be placed on salary, the salary shall be based upon the average number of open letters in the two years preceding the term when the salary is elected, based upon the following schedule:

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(1) Zero to five letters: salary shall be a minimum of seven thousand five hundred dollars;

(2) Six to fifteen letters: salary shall be a minimum of fifteen thousand dollars;

(3) Sixteen to twenty-five letters: salary shall be a minimum of twenty thousand dollars;

(4) Twenty-six to thirty-nine letters: salary shall be a minimum of twenty-five thousand dollars;

(5) Public administrators with forty or more letters shall be considered full-time county officials and shall be paid according to the assessed valuation schedule set forth below:

(6) The public administrator in the City of St. Louis shall receive a salary not less than sixty-five thousand dollars;

(7) Two thousand dollars of the compensation authorized in this section shall be payable to the public administrator only if he or she has completed at least twenty hours of instruction each calendar year relating to the operations of the public administrator’s office when approved by a professional association of the county public administrators of Missouri unless exempted from the training by the professional association. The professional association approving the program shall provide a certificate of completion to each public administrator who completes the training program and shall send a list of certified public administrators to the treasurer of each county. Expenses incurred for attending the training session shall be reimbursed to the county public administrator in the same manner as other expenses as may be appropriated for that purpose.

3. If a public administrator is appointed by the court as both a guardian and a conservator to the same ward or protectee, it shall be considered two letters.

4. Notwithstanding subsection 2 or 5 of this section, upon majority approval by the salary commission, a public administrator may be paid according to the assessed valuation schedule set forth in subdivision (5) of subsection 2 of this section. If the salary commission elects to pay a public administrator according to the assessed valuation schedule, the salary commission shall not elect to change at any future time to pay the public administrator’s office according to the average number of open letters in lieu of paying them according to the assessed valuation schedule.

5. The initial compensation of the public administrator who elects to be put on salary shall be determined by the average number of letters for the two years preceding the term when the salary is elected. Salary increases or decreases according to the minimum schedule set forth in this section shall be adjusted only after the number of open letters places the workload in a different subdivision for two consecutive years. Minimum salary increases or decreases shall only take effect upon a new term of office of the public administrator. The number of letters each year shall be determined in accordance with the reporting requirements set forth in law.

6. All fees collected by a public administrator who elects to be salaried shall be deposited in the county treasury or with the treasurer for the City of St. Louis.

7. Any public administrator in a county of the first classification without a charter form of government with a population of less than one hundred thousand inhabitants who elects to receive fees in lieu of a salary pursuant to this section may elect to join the Missouri local government employees’ retirement system created pursuant to sections 70.600 to 70.755.

8. (1) A letter of guardianship and a letter of conservatorship shall be counted as separate letters.

(2) For purposes of this subsection:

(a) “Letter of conservatorship” means the appointment of a conservatorship of an estate by the court to a protectee adjudged to be disabled;

(b) “Letter of guardianship” means the appointment of a guardianship by the court to a ward adjudged to be incapacitated.