A county administrator works by organizing the different departments and agencies tied to their county of operation, and in some cases may be involved with some additional tasks such as distributing the salaries for the county’s personnel, as well as being in direct charge of them. A county manager normally functions under the supervision of a county board, and is required to report to them on a frequent basis. The county manager must additionally frequently analyze the various factors related to the county, and prepare reports based on the data.
A Bachelor’s degree is always required for becoming a county administrator – the types of degrees accepted vary a lot, though in most cases a degree in public administration, accounting or business will give a candidate good prospects for employment. Additionally, good knowledge of working with finances and strong mathematics skills can benefit candidates greatly, as the job involves lots of calculations, especially when preparing reports and analyzing the county’s status.
A county administrator can look up to a relatively high salary, as most states have been reporting annual salaries of over $180,000 for their county administrators. However, in some cases the salary can be slightly lower than the average, between $130,000 – $150,000. Regardless of the specific figure, county administrators generally enjoy a higher salary than most other employees related to their respective county’s operations, and the job is regarded as a very highly-paying one. In some cases, the annual salaries for county administrators have been as high as $200,000.