Do you have some free time on your hands to give back to your community?

Maybe consider running for city council or mayor in your community.

Volunteering to make your community a better place to live should be the main reason for running for a city council position or mayor in small communities such as those that are located in Lyon County and in southwest Minnesota. And we commend community leaders such as Marshall Mayor Byrnes who given so much to his community for the past 30 plus years.

It’s a selfless act to want to help guide your community. However, the amount of compensation should not be the main driving force behind motivating a citizen to run for office in small communities.

During the July 9 meeting, the Marshall City Council approved a motion to introduce an ordinance that would adjust salaries for the mayor and council members.

“Our city charter does require us to discuss this every two years,” Byrnes said during that meeting of setting mayor and council salaries. “Past practice has been that this has been adjusted by the percentage adjustment for the non-union employees for the previous year or two.”

In 2022, the council had adopted an ordinance setting 3% increases for mayor and council pay in 2023, and in 2024. According to council agenda packet materials, the Marshall mayor’s salary has gone from $10,025.66 a year in 2020, to $11,338.87 in 2024. The salary for council members has gone from $6,341.42 in 2020 to $7,172.11 in 2024.

On Tuesday, the Council approved the adjustments. They mayor salary would increase to 11,679.04 in 2025 and $12,029.41 in 2026. The Salaries for council members will increase to $7,387 in 2025 and $7,608.89 in 2026

Compared to other Minnesota cities of similar size, Marshall’s mayor salary was toward the high end of the list, while council members’ salaries were more toward the middle of the pack. In the comparison included in the July 9 council agenda, the city of New Ulm had a 2023 mayor salary of $10,500, and council salaries of $8,000. Worthington had a mayor salary of $10,000 and council salaries of $6,000. Willmar had a mayor salary of $19,250, and council salaries of $12,500.

On the surface, these are not outlandish salaries and it can be argued that past increases were not unreasonable.

But on the other hand we do take exception to comments made by Council Member Steven Meister during the July 9 meeting.

“I’m going to state what I stated last time we did this. We hate to drive up levy taxes for these positions,” he said. He also said it was important to be able to attract good people for public office. “There’s a lot of time that goes into this job. A lot. For the amount that we are working, we are making far less than minimum wage.”

And then there is the comment on the issue made by City Administrator Sharon Hanson during Tuesday’s meeting: “if you want people to serve, it could provide some attraction to qualified candidates.”

Yes, we agree there is a lot of valuable time that goes into serving your city. But we doubt the amount of compensation these positions offer will ever be a motivation to run for office. And it shouldn’t. Nor should levy taxes be increased for increasing council or mayor salaries. Those monies should be budgeted accordingly.

“Good people” should want to serve because they want to make a difference.