Why Ingham County elected officials will see their salaries increase by up to 65% in the new year

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — All elected officials in Ingham County will see their salaries increase starting January 1, 2025.

The Ingham County Commission approved salary increases ranging from 3.5 percent for Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth to 65 percent for all 15 Ingham County commissioners at its Tuesday regular meeting November 26.

Ingham County Courthouse, the center of county government operations. (File/WLNS)

The salary increases were proposed in two separate resolutions.

The first was to approve raises for commissioners. This resolution obtained 9 votes in favor and three against. Three commissioners – Todd Tennis, Victor Celentino and Myles Johnson – were absent from the meeting.

The second resolution approved salary increases for county elected officials. This resolution was adopted with 11 votes in favor, one vote against and three commissioners were absent.

Commissioners last approved salary increases in 2022.

Although those pay increases passed, commissioners expressed frustration with both.

Screenshot of the Ingham County Commissioner’s salary and raises proposed and adopted by the Commission on November 27. (WLNS)

Republican Commissioner Karla Ruest of Mason was the first to voice opposition to increasing commissioner salaries.

“All of us, all the county commissioners, as well as the elected officials, know how much they were going to make before they ran for office, and I think it’s in poor taste to pass a pay raise in less than a month. after the election,” she said during Tuesday’s meeting. “I will therefore vote no. THANKS.”

Schafer’s Democratic colleague, Commissioner Mark Polsdofer of Okemos, told the Commission he was torn over the proposal. He noted that although the civil servants were civil servants, compensation was necessary to ensure continuity and institutional knowledge.

However, he also said he was not comfortable with the commission increases, given the county’s current struggle to pay fair wages to employees.

“I’m really torn about this,” he said.

Democratic Commission Chairman Ryan Sebolt spoke out just before the vote in favor of the pay raises.

“Our compensation, at the moment, we are behind our neighbors, behind comparable countries,” Sebolt said. “We are falling behind the Lansing City Council, which governs a smaller population than we are responsible for.”

Sebolt said county commissioners’ pay has “remained relatively stagnant compared to county employees.”

Schafer and Polsdorfer were joined by Republican Commissioner Karla Ruest, of Mason, in opposing the commissioners’ salary increases.

Read the documents

Ingham County Wage ResolutionDownload

cc and cw compensationDownload

County Commissioner Salary ComparisonsDownload

15.11.2022 CS Minutes – Final (approved)Download

When the commission shifted the debate to raising the salaries of county elected officials — the sheriff, prosecutor, registrar of deeds, clerk and Ingham County sewer commissioner — it focused on the disparities between elected county officials and their principal deputies.

Commissioner Thomas Morgan, a Lansing Democrat, introduced the resolution with the wage increases. He told colleagues the proposed raises were based on the salary of the top deputy reporting to each county elected official.

This increase was set at 3% of the salary of the highest deputies.

Longtime Commissioner Mark Grebner, an East Lansing Democrat, noted that it was a fair and objective formula, even though it generated significant differences in salary increases for county elected officials, including including his longtime political enemy, Ingham County Drain Commissioner Patrick Lindemann.

Under the terms of the increases adopted:

Lindeman will see his annual salary increase by $37,121, from a salary of $96,538 in 2024 to $133,659 per year in 2025.
Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth will see his salary increase by just $4,885 next year. Wrigglesworth’s salary in 2024 is $139,291, in 2025 it will be $144,176.
Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane will see his salary increase by $16,519 in 2025, from a salary of $148,724 this year to $165,243 next year.

Screenshot of proposed salaries and raises for Ingham County elected officials. The salary increases were approved as presented on November 27. (WLNS)

County officials are elected by the population of the entire county. Ingham County had a population of 284,637 in 2024, reports Michigan-Demographics.com. It is the eighth most populous county in Michigan, out of 83. Just before Ingham is Ottawa County, population 303,372. And right behind Ingham is Kalamazoo County, with a population of 262,215.

The Kalamazoo County sheriff has an annual salary of $149,751, according to documents provided to commissioners and compiled by Ingham County staff. The Kalamazoo County Sewer Commissioner has an annual salary of $43,320, while the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor has an annual salary of $149,250.

In Ottawa County, the sheriff has a salary of $149,618 in 2024, with a salary increase to $161,587 in 2025. The pipe commissioner has a salary of $110,881 in 2024, with a salary increase to $132,659 in 2025. The Ottawa County Prosecutor has a salary of 2024. salary of $169,874 and an increase to a salary of $183,463 in 2025.

Commissioners discussed the imbalance in responsibilities of countywide officials, such as the sheriff and prosecutor, compared to other offices. There was concern that salary increases, particularly for the sheriff, did not adequately reflect the nature and responsibility of the job.

Williamston Republican Commissioner Monica Schafer asked the commission to consider increasing the proposed salary for Sheriff Wrigglesworth to $154,000. No commissioner supported the motion, so no action was taken on the proposal.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to correctly attribute a quote to Mason Commissioner Karla Ruest.

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