The Washington County Riverboat Foundation recently approved giving a larger bump in pay for its executive director.

Patty Koller was hired in 2019 at a starting pay of $30,000 annually, and had most recently been paid $30,600, approximately a 1% increase over each year. Before Koller the late Jim Logan held the position since the foundation’s start in 2006 making $25,000 a year. During their first monthly meeting of 2022 on January 20th, Board President Shawn Ellingson explained that they annually discuss the executive director’s pay, and he explained the desire to better address the unique nature of her position and hours, “I believe we need to keep this position somewhat marketable if Patty at some time doesn’t want to do it, it’s got to be at a level that somebody else will want to step in and do that.”

The board discussed how executive director positions and pay vary for other qualified sponsoring organizations (QSO) across the state as some of the board recently met with other QSO’s at Prairie Meadows Casino. Ellingson said that he will be interested to see more specifically how these figures compare in a QSO market study that’s expected to be released this March. The board approved a motion to pay Koller $3,000 a month this year for a total of $36,000. The Washington County Riverboat Foundation is the non-profit license holder for the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, and has awarded over $46 million since 2006, 75% of which is awarded to competitive grants, with the other 25% distributed per capita to each incorporated community in Washington County.