County Considers Employee Raises

Fayette County Commissioners spent more than an hour discussing next year’s budget during a workshop session at their meeting last Thursday. They used most of that time considering possible raises for employees.

The Court had appointed a wage committee to make recommendations about raises. The committee met shortly before last Thursday’s meeting and proposed a four percent raise with a $2,400 minimum raise for the lowest-paid employees. The County Auditor’s Office calculated that such a scenario would cost the County almost $500,000 on top of current salary expenses.

The County also recently learned that employee medical insurance premiums would increase by more than $500,000 next year. In addition, the Commissioners are considering an increase to employee pension match from 175 percent to 200 percent. That would cost the County an additional $400,000.

Taken together with the four percent raises and a $2,400 floor, the total cost for increasing employee wages and benefits next year would cost about $1.4 million on top of current payroll expenses.

The Court seemed to balk at that idea. They asked the Auditor’s Office to calculate the cost of several other scenarios – a three percent raise, a $2,000 raise for each employee, and an $1,800 raise for each employee.

County Auditor Cindy Havelka said several departments have yet to submit their budget requests. Court Administrator Cassie Austin advised the Commissioners to hold a special meeting during the first week in August to finalize the proposed budget. She said the proposed budget needs to be posted by Aug. 7.