Members of the Sherburne County Board of Commissioners are required by statute to set their own wages each year. But it’s been an awkward process that the commissioners would rather not go through every year.
At a workshop Tuesday, Administrator Steve Taylor and the commissioners discussed potential options that would automatically determine how much of a wage adjustment the commissioners would get each year,
“We looked at several different options, so there doesn’t have to be a lot of conversation every year,” said Taylor.
One option would be to match commissioners’ adjustment to whatever county staff was getting. That way, the board’s increase would not be out of line with other county employees, and it would be determined based on county negotiated contracts.
A second option would be tying commissioners’ adjustments to the consumer price index (CPI).
“This tends to be a little bit variable,” said Taylor.
In some cases, the numbers decrease from the previous year, indicating the need for a wage cut.
The other two options are based on the median and mean wages of all full time employees in the county, not just county employees. Increases, or decreases, would follow what was happening in the job market.
Taylor said one of the drawbacks with those two options could be the lag time, where the numbers might be a year or two behind. He said it might be better to base the adjustment on the median and mean wages of county staff, since those numbers would be available in December of each year.
Members of the board were in favor of setting up some kind of process. Commissioner Felix Schmiesing said it would make the commissioners and potential commissioner candidates aware of the salary.
“I support this fully - that there’s a way to come up with some sort of reasonable formula so that we understand what wages are going to be,” he said, “and possibly people who are considering becoming a commissioner would be able to understand what their future might hold.”
Commissioners’ current wages were a big part of the discussion. Sherburne County Board members make $38,406 a year and haven’t had an increase since a two percent raise in 2013. Regular county employees have had increases of 2.5%, 2%, 2%, 1%, 2.5% and 2.5% over the same period.
Commissioner Ewald Petersen said people have told him they aren’t paying themselves enough for the work they do.
“They say we must be idiots to do this job,” he said.
Taylor said it’s been an issue in other counties as well, as commissioners have to walk the line between what the job is worth and what taxpayers see as an acceptable increase.
“I’ve worked for jurisdictions where it’s been zero (increase) for several years and then the board decides to increase it 10% to 20%. That can be problematic,” he said. “I also worked for jurisdictions where it’s a 2% to 2.5% increase ongoing because you want to keep up with inflation. This is an important position, so we want it to be attractive for residents in the county.”
Commissioner Lisa Fobbe said it’s also a concern across the state with legislators who aren’t paid as much as the private sector.
“We want to have diversity on the board to reflect the constituency,” she said. “But you look at legislators and it’s the same. Only a certain type of individual runs for the office.”
Commissioner Tim Dolan agreed, saying not everyone can afford to live on a commissioner’s salary, especially younger people and people with families.
“It’s a lot of work and it takes someone out of four years of their career growth,” he said. “To dedicate four years to public service is a lot to ask of a family.”
Dolan said he would be in favor of a formula tying commissioners’ wages to what other make.
“Essentially, tie us to the success of the county,” he said. “If we were to adopt something along those lines, it adjusts up and down with the economy. Then there’s no reason for us to make a decision.”
Taylor said he would come back with some options - possibly based on a two-year average of county employees’ wages and adjustments.
