Ramsey County commissioners voted themselves a pay raise at a meeting earlier this week — adding 3% for board members and 5% for the chair effective 2025.

The raise — described as a cost-of-living increase — moves commissioner salaries from $101,280 to $104,077 and the chair from $104,477 to $109,338. In addition, each commissioner will be awarded an annual allowance of $7,200 to cover work-related expenses.

Not all of the seven-member board will see that money, as three departures are imminent. Commissioners Victoria Reinhardt and Nicole Frethem have chosen not to run for re-election this November, and Board Chair Trista Martinson will step down this summer to run Ramsey and Washington counties’ waste-to-energy facility. Commissioner Mary Jo McGuire will be on the ballot for re-election.

The county board has sought to keep their pay increases in step with those awarded to the county’s largest labor units, which would have added up to a 2.25% increase for most members. The county board chose to forgo a .5% increase in 2021 during the economic uncertainty of the pandemic, so they included an additional .5% increase for next year in order to reach “parity with general wage increases given to employees since 2020,” according to the salary ordinance approved by the board Tuesday.

The board chair’s salary increased 5% “in order to compensate the role of the county board chair more equitably for the additional duties and responsibilities of the elected position.”

In a discussion before the vote, Frethem noted that the county’s home rule charter directs the board to set their own salaries. She said the job of a commissioner involves long hours and commitments.

“It’s not a part-time job,” Frethem said during the board meeting Tuesday. She also noted the need for competitive pay to attract quality candidates to the board.

Commissioner Rena Moran agreed.

“I’m on 27 different committees,” Moran said. “I’m starting early and going home late.”

Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt noted that the commitment of a member of the board — if done right — is much more than part-time.

“We don’t want someone coming in here who views this as a part-time job,” Reinhardt.

Still, the prospect of setting one’s own salary has struck some observers as politically unsavory.

“You’re proposing $21,000-plus in collective salary increases,” said Greg Copeland, a former candidate for state office, during a public hearing on the question on June 18. “You don’t have to actually raise your salaries. You can actually cut your salaries.”

In 2022, the League of Minnesota Cities conducted a study of commissioner salaries across the state and found a wide range, with much higher salaries for the most populous counties in the Twin Cities metro compared to more rural areas. The base salary for the Washington County commissioners at the time was about $72,000. In Carver and Anoka counties, it was $75,000. In Hennepin County, it was nearly $114,000. In Ramsey County, it was just over $97,000.

With a population of less than 6,000 people, Lincoln County, located near the South Dakota border, paid its county commissioners $16,000.

Before the vote, Chair Trista Martinson said that county officials should consider a fresh salary study ahead of next year’s vote on the matter.

The vote approving the raises was 6-0 with Rafael Ortega absent.

Frederick Melo contributed to this report.

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