[Mpls] County Commissioner vs. County staff pay

[L Vecoli]

Niel Ritchie wrote:
I've heard more than a few county workers grumble
about the lack of pay increases over the last few
years, while they say Commissioners, including Peter
McLaughlin, continue to take more substantial pay
increases.

Anyone have the facts on this? Is the county payroll
bargained for as a whole or are the various
classifications or bargaining units separate with
individual contracts, some better and some worse?

How are the Commissioners doing relative to the staff?


Lisa writes:

I left Peter's office over a year ago and don't remember all the numbers, 
but can provide some overview on this question since I oversaw the office 
budget.

The practice at the County is that the commissioners vote their raises based 
upon the last union contract (AFSCME). Because of this, they lag one year 
behind the amount that line staff get. They get the same amounts, but in 
differnet years. I don't recall the year, but this resulted in the 
commissioners receiving a raise (based on the previous year's staff raise) 
in the first year of the union salary freeze. Thus there was some grumbling.

Peter has long had the practice of donating some of his salary back to his 
office budget. This money was dedicated to hiring interns. The year that the 
commissioners got an increase but the staff did not, Peter donated 100% of 
the raise back to the office. As I recall, in 2004 this amount, on top of 
what he had been donating back, amounted to over $5,000. As far as I know, 
this practice has continued.

Lisa Vecoli
Howe Neighborhood