That’s more like it: Hennepin board’s new pay plan

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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It’s good to see that a Hennepin County Board majority has come back down to Earth to propose more reasonable pay hikes for themselves. We’re not sure in what universe they thought a nearly 50% self-imposed pay hike would fly.

But this week, thankfully, they came back to their senses to suggest more modest salary increases for commissioners (themselves), along with larger pay bumps for the county’s elected sheriff and attorney.

Commissioners had to back off the pay proposal that four out of seven of them had endorsed in late July. Board Members Debbie Goettel, Irene Fernando, Marion Greene and Angela Conley originally voted in committee to advance the exorbitant pay raise proposal. Kevin Anderson and Heather Edelson voted against. Jeffrey Lunde was not present at that meeting but indicated that he was opposed.

The pushback was strong and unequivocal. Taxpayers, workers and other elected officials were outraged about a previous recommendation for commissioners to raise their salaries by 49%, in order, they said, to put them on par with the lower end of assistant county administrators’ earnings. On Aug. 6, the board rightly voted to ditch that plan and to rethink salary increases for countywide elected offices.

They were right to backtrack. Now under the new proposal, commissioners’ earnings would climb 5% each of the next two years, from the current $122,225 to $128,336 in 2025 and $134,753 by 2026.

Conley and Anderson said those increases were more in line with what county workers received during the past few years and would help the board make up for stagnant salaries between 2016 and 2022. Uh, yeah. Which again makes us wonder why any of them thought a 49% increase proposal ever deserved to see the light of day in a county where the median household salary is about $92,500. And that figure is driven up by the county’s high earners. Those who most often use the social services the county administers earn considerably less.

In addition, Edelson proposed increasing pay for the county attorney and sheriff next year to $224,820 and to $231,564 by 2026. Currently, Sheriff Dawanna Witt earns $185,775 and County Attorney Mary Moriarty makes $195,065.

Witt has about 800 employees, a budget of $160 million and operates the state’s largest jail. Moriarty has 500 employees and a budget of $78 million. Her office prosecutes criminal cases, oversees child protection and support cases, and represents the county government in civil matters.

To justify those hikes, a board member cited a market study that showed both elected leaders are among the lowest-paid in the Twin Cities metro but have larger staffs and more constituents than other counties.

Commissioners are also considering the county budget and the Hennepin Healthcare budget; both must be approved by the end of the year. Hennepin County serves 1.3 million people, or 22% of the state population. Its current budget is about $2.7 billion to support roughly 10,000 employees that help provide half of the state’s social services.

Many of those services are mandated and at least partly funded by the state and federal government. Yet about half of county revenue comes from local property taxes. Last year, commissioners increased the local tax levy by 6.5%.

While they work to keep salaries at reasonable levels, the board should do the same thing for tax increases. Along with the pay issues, commissioners are considering the overall budgets they will adopt by the end of the year. Given the financial pressures being experienced by their constituent taxpayers, we’d urge the board to keep that tax hike as low as possible for the coming year.