MARSHALL — Members of the Lyon County Board were faced with the task of setting commissioner salaries this week.

Commissioners voted to approve a 3% pay increase for the county board, bringing commissioner pay to $23,100 per year. That amounted to a $700 raise.

However, it was the subject of per diem payments that took up most of the discussion.

“I think it’s time to adjust our rates for per diems,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley. Crowley said the county had not adjusted those rates for a long time. As of 2024, per diem rates for commissioners to attend different conferences, board and committee meetings were $75 for a half day of meetings. For a full day with two or more meetings, the per diem was $140.

Some Minnesota counties have one per diem rate across the board, said Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg.

“We send out surveys to our neighboring counties to see where we’re at. And there are some counties where a per diem is a per diem.” Others, like Lyon County, had different rates for half days and full days.

“We haven’t changed the $75 for quite some time,” Crowley said.

Commissioner Rick Anderson felt that if the county raised commissioner per diems to $100, they should also have only one per diem rate.

“If we’re gonna do the $100, it’s $100 across the board. We get rid of this half-day, full day (rate),” Anderson said. “It just makes it a lot cleaner.”

Commissioners were mainly on board with the idea of a 3% salary increase.

Crowley said he thought the county should do what it has done in the past, and adjust commissioner salaries at the same rate as county employees.

“I think that’s what we’ve kind of followed the last few years,” he said.

For 2025, county employees were looking at a 3% pay increase.

In 2024, the salary for a county commissioner was $22,400, with the board chair receiving an extra $250 per month.

“So, at 3%, that would be $23,100,” Stomberg said of the proposed increase.

Commissioners voted to approve a 3% increase for commissioner salaries, as well as setting per diem rates at $100 across the board.

In a separate action on Tuesday, commissioners approved updated pay ranges for non-union county employees. Stomberg said the new pay schedule reflects a 3% increase from 2024 pay ranges. That increase was consistent with increases proposed to union contracts for union employees, he said.

“Three percent, that’s pretty close to what the cost of living is,” Stomberg said.