TRAVERSE CITY — A proposal to double the salary for Grand Traverse County commissioners is on the agenda for Wednesday morning’s board meeting.
The plan would increase annual compensation to $24,000 while eliminating per diem compensation for attending additional meetings, events and training seminars.
Currently, board members are paid $12,000 a year, plus an additional $65 for certain meetings that last less than four hours and $110 for meetings lasting more than four hours.
Those extra per diem payments can amount to thousands of dollars per year, depending on the individual board member. Such payments have been the subject of intense scrutiny and debate in recent years, with some people saying they are subject to abuse.
By eliminating per diem reimbursements, the commission would reduce the chances for possible abuse and increase overall fairness in the compensation system, according to Commissioner T.J. Andrews, who represents District 7.
“We’ve had bipartisan support for this plan in our ad hoc subcommittee,” she said. “It only looks like a (big increase) if you ignore the per diem reimbursements paid over the years. When you take away those per diem payments, I think (the new plan) has a fair salary.”
The ad hoc subcommittee behind the new compensation plan included Andrews, Lauren Flynn (District 2) and Scott Sieffert (District 8).
Other plan details
Under the new proposal, the board chair would earn $26,000 and the vice chair $25,000 — slightly more than regular board members.
As in the current system, commissioners will also be eligible for county benefits, such as health insurance, equivalent to an employee working 30 hours per week.
Finally, the new compensation plan would call for cost of living adjustments (COLA) for all commissioners in the following amounts: 2025 (none); 2026 — 4 percent; 2027 — 3 percent; 2028 — 3 percent.
Going forward, the ad hoc subcommittee is also recommending that next year’s board establish a standing committee to review county employee wages and benefits.
The deadline for approving the new plan is Dec. 31 because a new board will take the oath of office on Jan. 1. On that date, Fern Spence will replace Vice Chair Brad Jewett as the District 4 representative.
Exactly who will be elected as chair and vice chair in 2025 is yet to be determined. Starting in 2025, board members will serve four year terms instead of the current two-year terms.
Comparison study
As part of its evaluation process, the ad hoc subcommittee asked county administrators to provide salary comparisons for commissioners in other counties.
In the 11 northern Michigan counties surveyed, county commissioner salaries ranged from a low of $4,200 in Missaukee County to a high of $12,000 in Crawford County. (Only Crawford County in that group that doesn’t offer per diem reimbursements of some kind.)
The average salary among those 11 counties is $7,215.
However, more populated counties typically pay much more. For example, in 2023 Washtenaw County raised the salary for county board members 52.2 percent to $36,315.
In contrast, Bay, Eaton, Lenawee and Midland counties pay much less, ranging from $7,740 to a high of $12,419.
Salary adjustments for commissioners are happening this year in many counties across Michigan.
For example, the Kalamazoo county board decided in October to peg commissioner pay to the lowest-paid, full-time county employee — $33,155 per year. (Unlike many county employees, those county commissioners are not paid by the hour.)
Wednesday’s county board meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the Governmental Center at 400 Boardman Ave. in downtown Traverse City.