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Pine County board adopts new county attorney pay scale to bring salaries closer to market
Summary
The Pine County Board approved a new wage scale for assistant and senior county attorneys and changed the process so future attorney pay adjustments come to the board through personnel, aligning attorney pay with comparable markets.
The Pine County Board of Commissioners approved a revised pay scale for county attorneys on a voice vote May 20, moving future attorney pay decisions under the board—s personnel process.
Board members said the change is intended to align assistant and senior county attorney salaries more closely with market comparisons and to bring attorney pay decisions into the same approval process used for other county positions.
County Administrator Dave Mankie explained the rationale and process for the change, saying the county has worked with the county attorney—s office and completed wage comparisons to set new minimums and maximums while retaining existing grade structures. The board—s action establishes an assistant county attorney salary range with a proposed minimum of $100,000 and a proposed maximum around $138,174 and a senior/county attorney proposed minimum of $110,000 with a proposed maximum of $150,613. The board retained the practice of advancing the top step by cost-of-living increases when the board authorizes such adjustments.
Mankie told commissioners that historically attorney pay had not followed the same board-approved grid used for other county employees and that the new scale restores personnel-committee and board oversight over attorney pay. Board members said recruitment pressures in the public defender and corrections fields have influenced local market wages and that adjustments were needed to keep Pine County competitive.
Commissioners discussed the study materials and multiple comparison tables in the meeting packet. There was no roll-call vote recorded; the board approved the scale on a voice vote after a motion to adopt the proposed pay ranges and to route future attorney pay adjustments through personnel and the county board.
The board also discussed implementation mechanics: the established maximum will remain the maximum pay step; annual cost-of-living adjustments to the top of the scale remain discretionary for the board in December budget actions. County administrators said any future requests to depart from the new scale would come first to the personnel committee and then to the full board for approval.
The action centralizes oversight of attorney compensation and aims to reduce ad hoc pay decisions by placing attorney salaries on the same approval pathway as other county positions.
