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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that he’ll accept a council-approved pay raise after bypassing recommended salary bumps during his seven years in office. It will bring his pay to more than $16,600 per month for the remainder of his tenure.

The second-term DFLer, along with other constitutional officers, agency heads and judges will also see pay hikes under recommendations adopted by the state’s compensation council. Those will take effect because the Legislature didn’t get in the way of the raises.

The recommended bump will increase the governor's annual base pay from $174,775 to $200,000. For most of his time in office, Walz’s actual base pay has been $127,000 per year — about $10,580 per month — 

However, earlier this year Walz did begin receiving the maximum allowed, although his office didn’t say when that shift occurred. Walz announced in January he wouldn’t go forward with a reelection campaign.

Walz said he didn’t get into public service to make money. But he wanted to accept the larger salary before a new governor takes office. His term will end early next year and a new governor will take office in early January.

“I didn't expect to get rich in public service, either as a teacher or soldier in this job. I thought it set an example by not doing that,” Walz said. “This year, I am going to take it on the way out the door to make sure that the next governor is at the appropriate level that the legislators set, that brings us in line again.”

Walz said he has felt “compensated fairly” during his two terms. 

“But I want to make sure that it's keeping pace with inflation, so that people who go into these jobs aren't at a disadvantage, and we're ending up in a situation —  in many cases, I saw this in Congress — where wealthy people can afford to have a house in their home, and in D.C., many of us couldn't, so we slept in our offices,” Walz said.

, compensation council members said the governor is responsible for overseeing 45,000 state employees and managing a $66 billion budget that spans two years. Prior to the proposed pay hike, the state ranked 30th for its governor’s salary.

Other constitutional officeholders are also in line to see pay increases beginning Wednesday:

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Dana Ferguson

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A council’s recommended pay raises for top Minnesota officials kicks in on Wednesday. Gov. Tim Walz will accept the raise after declining prior pay bumps.

After forgoing some past raises, Gov. Tim Walz to accept wage hike for final 6 months

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