Have you ever wondered how much money township officials earn in Northwest Michigan?
Recently there was a survey done on salaries for Township Supervisor, Treasurer, Clerk, and Trustees. Twenty-six townships responded, all located in Antrim, Kalkaska, Otsego, or Charlevoix counties.
These are numbers as of March 1, 2023. Some numbers are still from 2022, some are 2023 proposed or approved numbers. Most townships with 2022 rates do anticipate voting for raises. 
The number of full-time residents is used for comparison, but obviously there are many other factors which might impact a job, such as parcels and budget.
The biggest factor, which is difficult to analyze, is how hard the person actually works.
For example, most Clerks and Treasurers have deputy clerks that are very part time, while there are townships that have full-time deputy clerks, some who perform other duties such as maintenance. Some townships require members to have regular office houses, serve on other boards, or regularly attend water, fire, or planning meetings. Sometimes this pay is extra, sometimes it’s included.
Some break down pay into different categories. For example, the Mancelona Township Treasurer receives extra pay for administering marijuana licenses, which comes from the marijuana license fund. Some pay “extra” for tax collection. The numbers are the TOTAL numbers for these various jobs.
Data provided from townships with 1000 residents or less was figured in a separate category.
Participating in the northwest Michigan salary survey for Township Clerk, Treasurer, Supervisor, and Trustee are the following townships: Banks, Bay, Central Lake, Charlevoix, Chester, Clearwater, Coldsprings, Custer, Dover, Echo, Elmira, Eveline, Excelsior, Forest Home, Hayes, Helena, Hudson, Jordan, Kalkaska, Kearney, Mancelona, Oliver, Otsego Lake, Springfield, Torch Lake, and Warner.
