County employees, officials to get pay raise in 2018

County employees, officials to get pay raise in 2018

Quorum Court approves 3percent across- the- board increase

news@theeveningtimes.com

Crittenden County elected officials and all county employees will be getting a three percent pay raise next year.

The Quorum Court voted to give the raises across the board, even to the elected officials, citing continued strong numbers in the general fund. “Our beginning balances are steadily going up,” said Deputy Treasurer Jane Coltharp. “I think we can justify three percent.”

The court had previously discussed only giving employees and not elected officials a raise, but Coltharp told the justices that after crunching the numbers the difference between including elected officials and leaving them out was less than $20,000.

A three percent raise with the elected officials included would cost the county $273,171 compared to $260,000.

“That’s not that much money,” Coltharp said.

“We’re going to spend more than that on getting the prosecutor a new office.”

Earlier in the meeting the county agreed to a request by Scott Ellington to provide $20,000 for offices for a fourth prosecutor.

Justice Albert Marconi asked Coltharp whether the county could afford to give both elected officials and employees a raise.

“What kind of shape are we in?” Marconi asked.

Coltharp said the starting balances in the county’s general funds have been going up since 2012. In 2012, the county had $1.2 million in the county general fund. In 2016 it was $3.8 million.

“We started the year with $3.5 million in county general,” Coltharp said.

County Judge Woody Wheeless said the reason for the increase in the general fund is due to cost savings in other areas, plus the fact that they moved several major expenses from the general fund to other funds where those costs should have been being paid out.

“There were things being paid out of county general that should have been paid out of county jail,” Wheeless said. “So we started moving things around and then our general fund went up. That’s what has turned us around. It’s not like we have gotten more money.

We’ve made some adjustments. So county general has gone up. And it’s because of things we have done, not because of additional revenue.” County Tax Collector Ellen Foote argued that elected officials deserved to be included in the pay raise because their salaries are at about 60 percent of the state average.

“We are not at our max that an elected official can make,” Foote said. “And we have a lot more responsibilities.”

Foote said if the county doesn’t include elected officials, she at least urged the justices to give the employees more than two percent, which is what was originally proposed.

“I don’t have a problem not getting a raise,” Foote said. “But if you are going to give the employees a decent raise, do more than two percent.”

Librarian Debbe Davenport said giving the employees a raise would show that they are appreciated.

“What you don’t want is your department heads and elected officials to feel like they are not being appreciated for their work,” Davenport said. “When you can part out $20,000 for office space, to me it is worth the money to make department feel like they are being recognized for the work they do. That is a drop in the bucket to make them feel they are appreciated.”

Justice Vickie Robertson made it clear that the county in no way is saying that they don’t appreciate the work of the elected officials.

“This is not a reflection by any means to say we don’t think you guys do a good job,” Robertson said.

“Without knowing where we stood, we had to have some kind of starting point to tell Jane. We told her to start with two percent and see where we are.”

Justice Joe Marotti motioned to give both elected officials and all employees a three percent raise.

“I think three percent for everybody,” Marotti said.

“That would be my suggestion,” Marconi agreed.

“I have no problem with that,” Justice Robert Thorne added.

The court also agreed to give the employees a $500 Christmas bonus.

“I think the employees really count on that,” Robertson

said.

By Mark Randall