ANN ARBOR, MI - A proposal to increase the base salaries of Washtenaw County commissioners by 70 percent is temporarily on hold but expected to be back on the agenda next month.
Commissioners decided to postpone action at their Ways and Means Committee meeting Wednesday night, Sept. 19.
"It's frankly to give folks a chance to give more feedback and a chance to better understand the metrics we are using, and really just make sure that the input is big before we make any decision," County Board Chairman Andy LaBarre, D-Ann Arbor, said of the reason for postponement. "I suspect we'll schedule a public hearing at a full board meeting probably at the end of October."
Washtenaw's nine elected county commissioners now make $15,911 per year in base salary.
The board chair and committee chairs make an extra $3,000 each, and the vice chair makes an extra $1,000.
Following a comparison of commissioner salaries to those in other counties, the county's administration is recommending base salaries increase to $27,056 over the next two years.
The matter is expected to come back before commissioners at their Ways and Means Committee meeting on Oct. 3. If it's approved then, LaBarre said, it could come to the full board for consideration on Oct. 24, when there would be a public hearing.
Commissioners rejected raises for themselves in a 6-2 vote in November 2017.
According to a county memo, the last time there was a salary adjustment for commissioners was in 2013, and before that it had been 13 years, despite changes in the cost of living.
Under what's now proposed, county commissioners, who are part-time public servants, would have their pay set at 45 percent of the 2017 median salary of Washtenaw County residents, and the median salary was $60,125 last year. Forty-five percent of that is $27,056.
The proposal before commissioners calls for getting to $27,056 in four steps between now and July 2020, first going to $18,697 in January 2019, $21,484 in July 2019, and $24,270 in January 2020.
The $117,861 total cost of that is included in the county's 2019-22 budget, according to county officials.
LaBarre said he thinks the higher wage will allow a broader group of residents -- wherever they're at in life or whatever their economic conditions may be -- to serve in public office.
"This is certainly a job where, if you're looking to do it right, it can come to a half-time commitment, sometimes even more if you're in leadership," he said. "But right now, the wage we pay I think sort of produces a board that either has folks who are no longer in the workforce, folks who are maybe students or have a non-traditional setup, or some folks, if they have full-time jobs, they either have to have a lot of flexibility in those jobs or they're not able to do as much as other commissioners. And it's not a fault to them, it's a reality."
LaBarre said there's value in public service and people shouldn't get rich doing it, but they should be compensated.
According to information provided by the county, Washtenaw's current base pay per commissioner is 47 percent lower than average compared to eight other Michigan counties. Here are the rates and number of commissioners per county:
- Wayne -- $61,808 (15)
- Macomb -- $35,000 (13)
- Oakland -- $34,391 (21)
- Genesee -- $31,788 (9)
- Kent -- $22,192 (19)
- Ottawa -- $17,926 (11)
- Washtenaw -- $15,911 (9)
- Kalamazoo -- $12,752 (11)
- Ingham -- $11,647 (14)
- Average -- $29,940
How many residents there are per district is another consideration, and the county's comparison shows the following:
- Wayne -- 116,624
- Macomb -- 66,748
- Oakland -- 59,236
- Genesee -- 45,402
- Washtenaw -- 40,523
- Kent -- 33,799
- Ottawa -- 25,659
- Kalamazoo -- 23,787
- Ingham -- 20,575