Lt. Gov. Discusses Increased Salary
Air Date:01/13/2011
By Kealey Bultena
South Dakota’s Lieutenant Govenor’s salary is now more than the Governor gets paid. That is one of Governor Dennis Daugaard’s executive changes.
Lieutenant Governor Matt Michels will make about 120-thousand dollars this year. That’s nearly seven times what his predecessor made as Lieutenant Governor. But Michels says he has a higher salary because he’s full time, not part time.
"Dennis Daugaard as Lieutenant Governor was involved for, like, two and a half months within the legislative process, and he’s said this in the past, and obviously I’m full time, and I’m sure he ran the math. Frankly, if people are interested, it’s less compensation than I get now, but it’s more compensation for the ability to affect people and help people across the state, and there you have it," Michels said.
When asked about making more money than South Dakota’s CEO, Michels says he will have expenses the governor doesn’t, and he believes Daugaard took that into account when assigning his salary.
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