Doa Ana County Commissioners approve pay raises for incoming commissioners
Unlike El Paso County, commissioners in Doña Ana County cannot give themselves a pay raise and can only vote to give incoming commissioners an increase in pay.
ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom has learned that toward the end of Tuesday’s seven hour long meeting, the court approved giving newly-elected commissioners a 15% pay raise beginning January 1, 2017.
Commissioners currently make $29,556.80 a year. The increase approved Tuesday will bump the annual figure to $33,990.32 a year.
Current commissioners Billy Garrett and Benjamin Rawson will not receive the raise. Incoming commissioners Isabella Solis, Raymond Gonzales and John Vasquez will.
“The way the law works, you can’t vote an increase for yourself while you’re sitting,” Dona Ana County Manager Julia Brown said. “When you vote to approve it, it’s forward. So it’s for the newly elected officials coming in. I thought it was important that given the level of involvement and work that the commissioners do that they give the same level of increase as the other county elected officials.”
County Manager Julia Brown says this is the first time commissioners have gotten a raise in 10 years. This comes after the New Mexico legislature passed a bill in 2013 that sets the new maximum salaries for county elected officials at 15% above current levels.
The pay raise will also apply to newly-elected County Treasurer Eric Rodriguez and County Clerk Scott Khraling. Their salaries will jump from about $65,000 a year to $75,000, county officials said.
