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County mulling raises with wage hike looming

County mulling raises with wage hike looming

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Minimum wage set to increase to $ 11/ hour on Jan. 1

news@theeveningtimes.com Many small businesses grapple with the same question the county Quorum Court tackled during its monthly meeting, Tuesday. Magistrates dealt with the increasing minimum wage requirements effective January first. The Arkansas minimum pay underwent a series of adjustments before arriving at the new peak of $11.00 per hour set for 2021.

'Right now that's the minimum the law says we have to be at,' said County Judge Woody Wheeless. 'If we don't make some sort of adjustment, then someone who has been here one year will make the same as a new hire.'

The current minimum starting wage at the county stood at $10.50, a half dollar per hour short of the new standard. County Treasurer Matt Thompson lined out the costs for rais-

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County Judge Woody Wheeless FENTER, FCMC (cont.)

ing every employee in the county by the half dollar per hour. The move maintained gaps between all pay tiers.

'From our county general fund, a fifty-cent raise would be $95,000 per year and a dollar raise is 190,000 per year,' said Thompson. 'It's a significant amount of money moving forward especially with the capital improvement projects being considered.'

The figures did not account for payroll reimbursed by the state which lowered the total and also did not factor the benefit costs and FICA. Justices of the Peace considered options and costs before directing the county treasurer to budget 2021 with a fifty cent across the board for employees the move raised the wage floor up for those earning at the bottom of the pay scale and maintained the 50 cent span on wage and salary tiers within the county. The 50 cent boost repeated past practice.

'Last year, we did 50 cents for every employee,' said County Treasurer Matt Thompson. 'At some point, we all need to agree on this year.'

One dozen county employees earned $10.50 per hour. By comparison, no minimum wage discussions were necessary on the city of West Memphis as Mayor Marco McClendon led the charge last year to institute a city employee minimum

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