Hennepin County Facts for Contract Negotiations

This post is derived from a comment I posted on Richard Deal's previous post about 12 hour days. Certain people are commenting anonymously and I'm entertained...anyways that led to this:

We are the largest jail in the State. The most dangerous jail in the State.

We are the lowest paid in the metro area, yet we have the highest paid Sheriff in the State and the highest paid County Commissioners in the State.

The Sheriff could give all of us more money by law and the County Board would have to pay it. Sheriff McGowan once gave an extra one percent to the licensed deputies over and above what detention and AFSCME got. Sheriff Stanek doesn't roll that way.

They have turned the HCSO into a farm league for the other local law enforcement agencies. Today I looked at our seniority list for Detention Deputies. Out of 182 Detention Deputies, 70 are under 2 years experience! That's almost half of our staff with under 2 years experience.*

That number speaks for itself. I conclude this is either by design or poor management, or a combination of both. 

They obviously want it this way. After all, the highest paid must be the best and the brightest.

$158,905 a year salary

So what is Sheriff Stanek's salary? In 2014 it was $158,905 a year! 

By contrast Governor Dayton's 2014 salary was $119,850!  

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek makes $39,055 more than the Governor!

The Hennepin County Commissioners make $104,703. Also the highest paid in the State.

Now, one could argue that Hennepin County is, next to the State of Minnesota, the largest Government in the State, with the largest population and largest tax base. Such a large entity requires large salaries to attract and retain the best and brightest. 

Hennepin County Board salary
$104,000 a year

So why did they allow the Detention Deputies and Workhouse Corrections Officers to drop to the lowest paid in the seven county metro area? 

We run the largest jail with 839 beds and about 44,000 bookings a year and are the lowest paid. The highest paid, Ramsey County only houses 500 inmates.

Hell even the little Brooklyn Park Police lock-up pays more than Hennepin County does. They start at $23.10 an hour and top out at $30.10. That's starting pay $5 an hour higher then Hennepin, and a higher top pay. Oh, and they get there in 3 years, Hennepin County gets to their lower top pay in 8 years...unless there's wage freezes of course.

So Hennepin County and Sheriff Stanek, we do lead in one thing. The race to the lowest paid in our profession, led by the highest paid. 

Let's keep up the good work and do it again this time! Woo hoo!

*Seniority numbers edited 10/16/15