The Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners approved raises for elected local officials at its Dec. 10 meeting.
In the 2024 General Election, voters approved an amendment to the New Mexico Constitution that allowed county commissioners to establish the salaries of county officers. The state previously set and capped the salaries for county commissioners. The amendment passed with 66% of the 792,089 votes statewide.
Santa Fe County recently considered a commissioner pay increase from $39,106 a year to $46,907, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. San Juan County and Socorro County also raised salaries as a result of the amendment’s passage.
The Doña Ana Board of Commissioners approved pay increases for commissioners, as well as the positions of sheriff, assessor, probate judge, clerk and treasurer.
Doña Ana County Commissioners will see their pay increase from $39,106 per year to $50,837.
Commissioners also passed an amendment that called for a 30% cost-of-living adjustment to the salary of appointed deputy positions every four years.
“If we look at the people who actually serve on this board, and the people who serve the county as elected officials, some of our challenges are the people that they manage actually make more money than they do,” said District 3 County Commissioner Shannon Reynolds, whose final term on the Board ends in 2025.
“If you want to have people that are qualified to sit in this position and can afford to take care of a family and not have a bunch of people who are wealthy, retired, or distracted by a full-time position, then we have to pay them enough to actually provide a living for their family and right now we don’t.”
The increases were based on the 30% cost-of-living increases given to staff since the last time elected official pay was raised in 2019, according to County Emergency Management Director Stephen Lopez, who worked on the resolution while he was interim county manager before Andrews came on board.
How much will County elected officials make after increase?
State law prohibits county officers from pay increases during an official’s term in office. As a result, three commissioners will make more than the other two over the next two years. Additionally, the positions of sheriff, assessor and probate judge will also not receive the pay increase until after the 2026 election.
Here is how much elected officials will make and when:
Effective Jan. 1, 2025
-
Newly elected Treasurer Marisol Richardson will make $112,116 per year. The previous salary for the position was $86,626.
Effective Jan. 1, 2027
-
The salary for sheriff will increase from $90,338 to $117,439.
-
The salary for assessor will increase from $86,626 to $112,613.
-
The salary for probate judge will increase from $38,144 to $49,548.
-
The salary for District 1 and District 3 county commissioner will increase from $39,106 to $50,837.
“I come to work more than 40 hours per week often,” said Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart, who was first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.
Stewart said she manages 201 employees in her department.
“I make about $4.82 an hour. … As (Reynolds) put it, we need to be 21st Century. We need to be able to support those like myself, who want to take on these responsibilities going forward but need to make a living.”
Stewart spoke during the public comment period, as did Chief Deputy County Clerk Caroline Zamora, who voiced similar concerns on the salary staff members of elected officials receive.
“Currently I serve as the chief deputy clerk of the second largest county in the state yet I am the lowest paid among my counterparts of the five largest counties in the state,” Zamora said. “This disparity exists despite my leadership in administering in the largest election our county has ever had.”
There were two members of the public who spoke during the meeting, voicing support for increasing compensation to retain and attract talent to the various roles in county government.
In addition to salary increases for elected officials, the positions of undersheriff, chief deputy county clerk, chief deputy treasurer and the chief deputy assessor will make a salary that is 95% of their respective elected official.
Effective Jan. 1, 2025, Zamora’s salary will be $106,982.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Doña Ana County officials are getting a raise. Here’s how much
#Doña #Ana #Commissioners #approve #pay #increases #county #elected #officials
Leave a Reply