Dayton Decision on Cabinet Member Pay Raises Due this Week

ST. PAUL (AP) - The one-day window for Gov. Mark Dayton to raise the pay of state agency commissioners arrives on Wednesday.

Dayton said Monday he will base his pay-raise decisions on the need to attract and retain top-notch managers. But he doesn't plan to approve the maximum pay in most cases.

As part of a compromise to roll back earlier cabinet raises, the Legislature allowed Dayton to unilaterally set commissioner pay on July 1. But lawmakers subjected any future commissioner salary decisions to legislative approval.

Lawmakers had fumed over Dayton's approval of double-digit raises that brought some salaries above $150,000. Most commissioners previously earned less than $120,000.

Dayton expects more political blowback but says the higher pay levels are in line with rising local government salaries and executive branch pay in other states.