Minnesota Legislators Get a Pay Bump in July

ST. PAUL (WJON News) - Minnesota Legislators will see a pay increase this summer.

Last Friday, the Legislative Salary Council unanimously approved an increase in legislator pay of 7.25% or about $3,500 per year.

In determining the increase, the council used the current pay scale of county commissioners,

Photo: Minnesota Legislative Council

salary and per diem rates of neighboring state legislatures,

Photo: Minnesota Legislative Council

and other benefits, like health insurance.

Photo: Minnesota Legislative Council

According to the Legislative Salary Council’s report, they used the following information to justify the pay increase:

Inflation, as measured by CPI-U, increased by 7.04% in 2021 and 6.45% in 2022.
State employee collective bargaining agreements provided 2.5% and 2.5% across the board increases effective July 1, 2021 and July 1, 2022, respectively.
Social security benefits increased 5.9% and 8.7% effective December 2021 and December 2022.
Private sector pay increased 5.0% and 5.1% effective December 2021 and December 2022.
The five non-urban Metropolitan County (7 county Metro Area excluding Ramsey and Hennepin counties) commissioner salaries increased 3.5% since the Salary Council’s last determination.
The Salary Council makes a single salary determination effective July of the oddnumbered year. Many of the salary comparisons that the Council considered consisted of two adjustments over a two-year period. The adjustment made by this Council explicitly takes into account this two-year period in order to keep Legislator salaries whole in real economic terms.
MMB’s most recent budget forecast projects a general fund balance of $17.5 billion in FY 24-25, of which $12.5 billion is leftover from the previous biennium. The forecast references estimates of inflation for the next three years: 2.3% for FY 24, 2.2% for FY 25, and 2.1% for FY 26.

After a lengthy discussion about the increase in inflation and the total hours legislators put in during the session, the council approved an increase from $42,250 to $51,750 per year effective July 1st. The increased salaries mean an extra $810,000 per year in state spending.

To read the draft report, click here.