Hennepin County commissioners set to vote on 49 percent pay raise

Hennepin County commissioners will vote Tuesday on whether to increase their salaries by 49 percent.

The elected commissioners currently earn $122,225 a year. The measure up for a final vote at Tuesday’s board meeting would increase their salaries to $182,141 starting next year, followed by a 3 percent increase in 2026.

In an initial vote during a committee meeting last week, the board split 4-2 in favor of the increase.

Board Chair Irene Fernando, who’s supporting the increase, said it’s necessary to ensure people from diverse backgrounds are able to serve in elected office.

“I believe in a county where generational wealth or additional income is not a prerequisite to serving as a Hennepin elected official,” she said at last week’s meeting, also noting that individual commissioners can opt to take a lower salary.

Fernando said that in lieu of another Minnesota county with comparable population and scope of commissioners’ responsibilities, her proposal links commissioners’ salaries to those of certain non-elected county employees — specifically, assistant county administrators.

She said the proposed salaries for commissioners are at the low end of what a market analysis found for administrators’ pay.

Commissioner Debbie Goettel voted in favor of the pay increase last week.

“We left ourselves out” of past pay discussions, Goettel said of the board, noting that making decisions about wages and salaries for county workers is done on a regular basis, but not for commissioners.

“If we want to set a legacy for the people who will come after us so that we get good governance, we need to at least get an equitable pay for the people sitting up here on the bench,” Goettel said. “I’m not talking just about myself, I’m talking about the people who come after me.”

But the proposal also has drawn pushback from other commissioners. District 7 Commissioner Kevin Anderson said at last week’s meeting that he doesn’t agree with commissioners being in the same classification as county administrators. He said the two roles are different and distinctive from one another.

Anderson said he agrees with a cost-of-living adjustment, but “the amount that is being proposed for our specific salaries are well outside of the range that we would offer to adjust for, I think, any other job classifications,” he said.

“When I got elected three and a half years ago, I knew what the compensation was,” he continued, noting that while it’s less than he made in the private sector, “I feel like I am, honestly, fairly compensated for the work that I do.”

Comparison to other counties

Other Minnesota counties don’t pay their commissioners as much as Hennepin County currently does. Other 2024 salaries include:

• Anoka: $90,185 

• Carver: $83,761 

• Dakota: $98,461 

• Ramsey: $101,280 

Those four counties have fewer residents than Hennepin County, and not all counties in Minnesota have full-time county commissioners.

Ramsey County commissioners earlier this year voted to increase their annual pay to $104,077 — $109,338 for the board chair — starting next year.

Other elected officials’ salaries

The Hennepin County Board on Tuesday also will consider salary increases for the two countywide elected officials — sheriff and county attorney.

Under the proposal, both positions would see their salary increase to $218,272 next year -- up from $185,775 for the sheriff and $195,065 for the county attorney.

That proposal passed unanimously at last week’s meeting.

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