Photo by Deb Gau From left, county commissioners Rick Anderson, Charlie Sanow, Gary Crowley and Paul Graupmann discussed setting commissioner salaries for 2021. The county is required to set commissioner pay annually, under state law.

MARSHALL — It wasn’t a task Lyon County commissioners were enthusiastic about. But they had to take action, to set their own salaries for 2021.

“State statutes require the board to set compensation for commissioners,” Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg said.

After discussion of a few different possible ways to calculate future pay increases, board members voted Tuesday for a 2% increase in commissioner salaries. That means in 2021, Lyon County commissioners will be paid $20,600.

Later at Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners held performance reviews for Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen and County Attorney Rick Maes, and approved pay increases for both.

Stomberg said the last time county commissioner salaries were raised was about two years ago. Per diem rates — the additional pay commissioners receive for attending meetings for various county and regional boards — were raised last year. The 2020 salary for county commissioners was $20,200. Per diem rates were $75 for a half-day of meetings and $140 for a full day with two or more meetings.

Commissioner Charlie Sanow and other commissioners acknowledged that setting their own salaries was a “very uncomfortable thing to do.” However, they said fair compensation was also important for people who might serve on the county board in the future — being a commissioner is a time-consuming job.

Commissioner Steve Ritter moved to set commissioner salaries at the same rate as 2020. In discussion, commissioners went over other possible ways to handle pay increases for county commissioners. Sanow said there are other Minnesota counties that increase commissioner pay at the same rate used for county employee pay raises. It could be a fair way to set commissioners’ salaries, he said.

Commissioner Gary Crowley said he thought Lyon County’s commissioner pay should be about average for the eight-county region.

“Currently, we are under the average,” Crowley said. A 5% raise would bring Lyon County pretty close to the average for commissioner pay, but it would still leave the question of how to stay at the average into the future. Crowley said one possibility would be to increase commissioner pay by 5% for 2021, and tie it to Lyon County employee pay raises afterward. Stomberg said automatic raises weren’t allowed under state law. Commissioner salaries had to be set annually.

Ritter’s motion to keep commissioner salaries the same failed 2-3.

A motion by Sanow to increase commissioner salaries 2% and leave per diems the same passed 4-1, with commissioner Ritter casting the dissenting vote.

At the end of Tuesday’s county board meeting, commissioners went into closed session to conduct performance evaluations for two elected county officials, Sheriff Eric Wallen and County Attorney Rick Maes. After that, the board reconvened in open session to set 2021 salaries for both positions. The sheriff’s salary was increased from $105,046 to $111,349. The county attorney’s salary was increased from $139,744 to $144,000.