Becker County releases new wage study and pay scale; new scale to be implemented Jan. 1

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The preliminary findings of Becker County’s most recent wage study was presented to the county board on Tuesday.

The study was completed by a third-party, DDA Human Resources Inc., and will affect the pay scale of new county employees going forward. The study was presented to the board members by Becker County Human Resource Director Carrie Smith.

“We’re hoping for implementation in January and this was in the budget,” said Smith.

Some of the county positions will include increases in pay next year while others will include a reduction in minimum and maximum wages.

Barry Nelson, chair of the Becker County Board, said he doesn’t expect any county employee to lose any wages when the new pay scale goes into effect.

“At most it would be a freeze,” said Nelson. “There would be no reduction. And it won’t be too long before it catches up. And that’s something we’ll have to discuss further down the road. But, my opinion, and I’m sure the opinion of the rest of the board, we’re not going to cut pay for anyone.”

The biggest wage increases of the new pay scale are:

County Administrator, whose minimum base pay will increase nearly $8 per hour, from $48.22 to $56.09 per hour.

County Engineer, whose minimum base pay will increase more than $6 per hour, from $39.05 to $45.37 per hour.

The combined position of Human Resources Director and Assistant County Administrator, whose base pay will increase nearly $14 per hour, from $31.44 to $45.37 per hour.

The positions with the largest decreases in pay are:

Accountant, whose minimum base pay will decrease more than $3 per hour, from $31.87 to $28.44.

Becker County supervisors for adult services, behavioral health, child and family services, public health and social services will all see a more than $3 per hour reduction in minimum pay, from $36.58 to $33.17 per hour.

The new wage chart is still preliminary and is expected to be tweaked in coming weeks as employees raise concerns with the new wage scale.

The final wage table is expected to be voted on by the board in coming months.

Becker County employee wage scale, 2023 by Michael Achterling on Scribd