County commissioners set salary at $22,182

By Reed Anfinson
Swift County Monitor-News
A couple of years ago, the Swift County Board of Commissioners agreed to link their salary increases to the cost of living increase other employees receive annually. For 2022, that COLA was 2.25%.
Based on that formula, commissioners voted unanimously at their Dec. 21 meeting to increase county commissioner salaries to $22,182, with the county board chair paid an extra $1,000, or $23,182.
Commissioners also set each commissioner’s per diem for attending meetings at $70. However, that per diem is the maximum for a single day, even if the commissioner has two or three meetings that day.
County commissioners serve on a wide variety of local and regional boards. For example, a commissioner can serve on the county’s planning commission, the Upper Minnesota Regional Development Commission board, the Chippewa River Watershed board, and a joint county ditch board. 
It is not uncommon that a commissioner can serve on 10 or more boards or committees. Some of those bodies meet monthly, some quarterly, and some “as needed.”
“A lot of county boards are going away from per diems and just going with a straight salary,” Administrator Kelsey Baker told commissioners. “Is that something you would like me to look into for 2023?”

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