Washington County’s top leaders given pay increases

The Washington County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved pay increases for County Administrator Kevin Corbid, Sheriff Dan Starry and County Attorney Kevin Magnuson.

In 2025, Corbid will earn $244,608, a 12 percent increase over this year’s salary. Magnuson will earn $226,855 and Starry $217,552, both 7 percent increases.

Corbid, 55, has been with the county since June 2001 and as county administrator since 2020. His previous salary was not commensurate with other administrators in the metro, Board Chair Stan Karwoski said.

“Anoka, Dakota and Ramsey all recently hired county administrators, and his new salary puts him in the middle of those three,” Karwoski said. “These were three administrators who were new. Kevin has a lot of experience with our county and is totally well-respected by his staff, the county board and the citizens of our county. He’s just a top performer.”

The five board members also voted themselves 7 percent raises, to $85,486 each. That “makes the pay for commissioners competitive with our other peers within the metro,” Karwoski said. “We’re the fifth-largest county, and we felt that our county commissioner pay should be the fifth-highest.”

Commissioners decided a few years ago to increase commissioner pay sufficiently so that “somebody could leave their career and give up private-sector pay, and our pay would be high enough that they could make that commitment of public service and that wouldn’t be a huge penalty,” Karwoski said. “It’s a full-time job.”