Lawmakers question veterans board’s 2023 pay increase for commissioner and resulting budget shortfall

Colonel Dutch Bielke, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and past chair of ACOVA’s Department of Veterans Affairs and Budget Subcommittee, told the House Appropriations Committee’s Human Resources Division that ACOVA used its statutory authority to raise the 2023 salary for Lonnie Wogan, commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs, after reviewing comparable state and national salaries and concluding Wogan was underpaid.

Why it matters: Committee members said the committee of legislators that controls state appropriations was not consulted before ACOVA increased the commissioner’s pay, leaving the Legislature to consider a deficiency appropriation to cover the shortfall. Committee members said the process and a roughly $80,000 funding gap created political and budgetary concerns about transparency and legislative oversight.

Colonel Bielke opened by outlining his credentials and ACOVA role. He told the committee ACOVA members “reviewed his annual compensation” against peers and state agency directors and “we found his compensation wanting,” and that ACOVA “collectively voted to increase Commissioner Wogan’s salary.” Bielke said the committee believed the increase fit within the committee’s statutory…