Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The Becker County Board discussed the new pay scale system for county employees during their meeting on Tuesday and agreed to stick with their old band and grade pay scale system for now.
Three of the five commissioners still had concerns about the new pay scale and want more information from the consultant before deciding whether or not to move forward.
Pat Oman, county administrator for Becker County, said the county’s budget for 2024 uses the wages from the new pay scale and they’ll have to make some changes before the end of the year, if they stay in their current wage system.
Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald implored the board to make changes to the new pay scale since his assistant county attorneys would all have their wages frozen for the foreseeable future under the new system.
“It’s without debate that the biggest losers in that proposal are my county attorneys,” said McDonald. “Proposing, basically, an indefinite pay freeze or reduction compared to what my staff was told they were capable of making when they were hired. Without my assistant attorneys, I can’t do my job. We could debate all meeting long about how this was conducted and the results. The bottom line is I don’t agree with what they consider the market for a licensed attorney in this area. And I don’t agree with the proposal to reduce or freeze my staff’s pay.”
Under the new pay scale, assistant attorneys in Becker County would have their wages reduced between $1.90 to $6.36 per hour lower, depending on their time in service.
McDonald added one of his assistants had his last day on Tuesday because he was offered $50,000 more per year to work for the public defender’s office. He also said they have had a position for a new county attorney posted for multiple weeks and no one has applied for the position.
“It shows that we are not competitive,” he said. “I’ve sent you Cass County’s information that they’ve just posted in the last month or two. I’ve reached out to their county attorney and they’ve had, perhaps, one application. So, it’s a really dark time for county attorneys in Minnesota right now. It’s kind of a combination of the public defenders announcing their huge pay increases, but I also know that six weeks of discussing freezes and pay reductions has not helped.”
Barry Nelson, chair of the Becker County Board, said, since their wasn’t consensus from the board, he thinks the county should stay with the old pay scale system for now and make some changes to get through the upcoming year.
“We’re struggling with either way we go right now,” said Nelson. “And the struggle on the new system is something we need to analyze and say, ‘is it worth moving to at this time?’ We can always move to it at a later time, but for this contract year, I think we should stay where we’re at and adjust where we need to where we are low. And ask our staff to work to make sure our pay equities pass the test again.”
David Meyer, commissioner for District 2, said he wants to make sure the new pay scale is correct before he considers supporting it and he, and some of the other commissioners, want more market comparison information from different counties to see how their new scale lines up.
“I’m concerned with are we using tax money wisely to get this correct,” said Meyer. “And we can’t vote on this until I feel it’s right. To me, right now, it doesn’t seem like its equitable, fair, or correct.”
No official action was taken by the board on the new pay scale, but commissioners and county staff plan on moving forward using their current system with some changes. The commissioners all agreed their continued discussions are moving the process in the right direction.
The new class and compensation plan is expected to continue to be discussed at upcoming meetings.
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