When it comes to governing bodies, “Trust but verify” always comes to mind. The aphorism mentioned above seems appropriate more than ever when it comes to our local administration. I point this out because a piece in last week’s paper about the county assessor’s position stated that Cook County “pays at the low end of the scale for this position.”
That was quite a surprise to a group of us looking at compensation for county department heads. Compared to others, for example, Cook County pays the assessor position over $6,000 more than Aitkin County whose population approaches three times that of Cook.
We pay over $9,000 more than Marshall County – 4,200 higher population – for the same position. And Cook County pays well over $15,000 more than Lake County, a county twice our population and a far more diverse economy. “Low end of the scale”? These inconsistencies are also apparent with other salaried county positions while the benefit packages appear to be comparable between counties.
We’ve read with great amusement about the Keystone Study and wondered: How about an “Ability to Pay” study. When we consider a 2017 earnings study, focusing on private sector wages done by The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), it becomes even more stark. The BLS study compared weekly wages from all 87 Minnesota counties and found that Cook County came in 86th – one dollar a week more than last place Cass County.
We’re not blaming any county employee here, but instead, are questioning a system that seems overly generous with our hardearned tax dollars. While we are not sure why these salaries are higher than in other counties, we do have to look at who’s making the decisions to pay them.
It’s said that mushrooms do well if kept in the dark and fed a lot of manure (to put it politely); the same should not be assumed of voters.
Ron Wizykoski
Hovland
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