Pay raises for Oakland County’s elected officials

Michigan employees incomes the minimal wage will see a ten% pay improve beginning Jan. 1, to $13.73 per hour. They don’t seem to be the one ones getting a elevate.

Oakland County’s elected officers, from the county government to the board of commissioners, will even obtain bigger salaries.

The rise relies on a system from the state tax fee that makes use of a 12-month common of the state inflation fee and shopper worth index calculated by the U.S. Division of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 2026, the system resulted in a 2.7% improve, which can value the county just below $35,000.

County commissioners historically set the speed on the final board assembly of the yr on Dec. 11. Previously, compensation was a person agenda merchandise mentioned by commissioners earlier than they voted — and sometimes these votes had been partisan. The Dec. 11 2026 wage proposal was positioned on the board’s approval agenda, a gaggle of resolutions which can be sometimes handed with out dialogue.

The wages of civil servants are public. The board’s 2024 vote on 2025 pay brought about some rigidity among the many commissioners who gave themselves a 22% pay improve, a decision that handed alongside partisan traces; no Republican commissioners voted for that fee. That decision additionally made the state tax fee’s system the usual for future will increase.

Here is an inventory of what a 2.7% improve means for the county’s elected leaders in 2026 in comparison with 2025 salaries:

• Director Dave Coulter: $241,345 vs. $235,000, up from $6,345.

• Prosecutor Karen McDonald: $210,535 vs. $205,000, up from $5,535.

• Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Treasurer Robert Wittenberg, Clerk/Register of Deeds Lisa Brown and Water Utilities Commissioner Jim Nash: $188,968 versus $184,000, a rise of $4,968.

• Fee Chairman Dave Woodward: $84,727 for 2026, up from $82,500 in 2025, a rise of $2,227.

• Fee Vice Chair Marsha Gershenson: $70,606 versus $68,750, a rise of $1,856.

• Majority Meeting Speaker Angela Powell and Minority Meeting Speaker Mike Spisz: $62,133 versus $60,500, up from $1,633.

• All different commissioners: $56,485 in 2026 versus $55,000 in 2025, a rise of $1,485.

State regulation requires county commissions to set pay charges for elected officers, with the caveat that wages can’t be diminished whereas a politician is in workplace, whether or not elected or appointed.

Oakland County has a inhabitants of 1,296,888 based on the US Census and a present funds of $1.17 billion

Half-time commissioners in Macomb County by 2026 will be paid $41,738 and the full-time chairman of the board will obtain $107,324.

Macomb County has an estimated whole inhabitants of 886,175 and a funds of $1.1 billion, based on the U.S. Census.

The Wayne County spokesman didn’t reply to The Oakland Press’ request for payroll data.

Since 2017, Oakland County commissioners have accepted will increase starting from 2% to five%, excluding the 22% increase for 2025 and no will increase in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2023, commissioners have awarded themselves will increase totaling 32.7%, together with the 2026 fee.