Overton County’s first budget draft includes a new salary schedule for non-emergency employees.
The raise includes a three percent bump to starting pay and a one percent across-the-board raise for county employees. Budget Committee Co-Chair Darwin Clark said the adjustment is necessary to help the county retain staff and remain competitive with surrounding counties.
“Which is not a huge amount, but it’s a start,” Clark said. “It’s just like we did with the emergency personnel. We’ve been working on their budget for increasing their salaries over the last 10 years, so it’s time for us to, you know, bring everybody else up.”
Clark said higher wages will incentivize local government employees to stay local, instead of seeking higher pay in surrounding counties.
“The greatest thing (about working) for the county is that you get to be at home,” Clark said. “You don’t have to go out of town to work. Most of the time, if you get hired full-time, it’s got pretty decent benefits. So we need to try to retain our employees.”
District 4 Commissioner Patrick McCurdy said the county reviewed wages from other similarly sized areas to ensure competitive compensation for the county’s non-emergency personnel. McCurdy said the county is already seeing some employees return as a result of the wage increase.
“As we went through those those cases, what we did is we took surrounding counties and other counties and compared and made sure that we didn’t overpay,” McCurdy said. “But made sure that they got fair pay.”
While acknowledging the tight budget did not allow for the raise many would have wanted for county employees, Clark said the salary schedule increase was a step in the right direction toward securing their workforce.
With the projected Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for next year estimated at 4.7 percent, some on the council expressed regret for not being able to do more.
“We’re not keeping up with cost-of-living and we can’t,” Commissioner Gregg Nivens said. “That’s the sad part about it.”
Commissioner Donna Savage said many of the non-emergency personnel staff are equally valuable to the county’s operations. Savage said county workers help keep everything functioning smoothly, and are deserving of a well-earned raise.
“For years, the clerical people, the janitor people, the solid waste people have been let go,” Savage said. “They’re just as important. I know a lot of people don’t think that pushing a pencil or a mop bucket or cleaning the toilet… but I don’t know about you, but I think it’s very important. So I think it’s time to give them their justice.”
The committee also agreed to fund a full-time position for the Chamber of Commerce and approved a 50/50 technology grant for the library.
