County Budget Discussions: ‘You Get What You Pay For’

Fayette County Commissioners Court were set to meet again to discuss next year’s budget on Thursday, Aug. 3. Raises for County employees have been one of the top priorities in the discussions so far.

County Judge Dan Mueller issued a statement last week ahead of the meeting expressing his thoughts on the current discussion.

“Levying taxes is like shearing a sheep … stop when you get down to the skin,” Mueller said. “Here in Fayette County, we expect our residents to get the most out of our tax dollars. In the budget process, currently underway, there has been talk about possibly raising the salaries of the Sheriff’s Department and the Emergency Medical Services at a higher rate than other County employees.”

Commissioners had been considering a five percent raise for most County employees and a seven percent raise for EMS and Sheriff’s Office personnel. At their meeting last Thursday, July 27, leaders from Fayette County EMS and the Sheriff’s Office told the Commissioners Court that stagnant wages here are making it hard to recruit and retain personnel. After their presentation, County Judge Dan Mueller proposed a 10 percent raise for EMS and Sheriff’s Office personnel. No decision was made at the time.

“The easiest thing for the Commissioners Court to do would be to ignore the issue at hand,” Mueller said in his press release. “We have a problem and I don’t think we (Fayette County) can afford to ignore the problem. Our problem is, Fayette County ranks low in salaries when compared to our surrounding areas. We are losing good deputies and good EMS personnel to other agencies. These good employees are leaving Fayette County to make more money in counties next door to us. Our good deputies and good EMS personnel are too important to us.

“We depend on them, and they want us to depend on them,” he added. “We expect and need professionalism. That is what we currently have and I believe it is vital that we keep the good employees we have. The level of commitment is a reflection of the results received. In other words, we get what we pay for.”

Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann echoed those sentiments in an interview with the Record ahead of this Thursday’s meeting.

“Those two services are vital for the county,” Brossmann said. “We’re a fast growing county. We need to maintain those services and maintain good employees. If we can bump them up and get competitive with neighboring counties, that’s what we need to do. Pretty much all the counties get the same benefits, so it boils down to the pay.”

After the meeting last week, Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom and Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff expressed concerns about the Judge’s 10 percent proposal, as detailed in Tuesday’s paper. And County Auditor Cindy Havelka said the County may not have enough revenue to pay for the Judge’s proposal without cutting expenses elsewhere.

Brossmann said he was not in favor of raising taxes to pay for salaries.

“We’re going to work with what we have and do the best we can,” Brossmann said.

Pct. 2 Commissioner Luke Sternadel told the Record this week that he understood why the EMS and Sheriff’s Office asked for a large pay increase.

“After listening to the reports from the Sheriff’s Office and EMS, and I think they did a thorough job, salary seems to be the biggest issue with both departments,” Sternadel said. “They can’t keep good quality personnel now. The reports they presented to us show that all of the surrounding counties have a better pay that Fayette County.

“We’re not trying to overpay our employees,” Sternadel added. “We’re trying to be competitive with surrounding counties.”

Sternadel said both the EMS and Sheriff’s Office received substantial grant money in recent years to pay for new equipment.

“I think they’re doing good on (equipment), but now what they’re lacking is employment,” he said.

Sternadel said the County cannot make any decisions until it gets a firm estimate on revenue for next year.

“It’s hard to project what we can do,” Sternadel said. “We’re just throwing ideas out there to see what would be possible. We got to look at the bottom line and see what we can afford to give them. I think we need to give them whatever we can to be compatible with surrounding counties.”

Look for more on the County’s budget discussions in Tuesday’s paper.