Kosciusko County Council approved a 1-percent raise for county employees at a special budget meeting Thursday, but indicated pay may be tied to performance next year.
The county wage committee recommended a lower wage increase than the 2 percent given in recent years, councilman and committee member Larry Teghtmeyer said, because cost of living is not expected to go up next year. Councilmen Brad Tandy and Bob Sanders said they would like to see a process next year for department heads to evaluate employees and make the wage recommendations themselves.
“In the past, we’ve given an increase whether the employee was doing a good job or not … The department heads work with those people, so they should be the ones in a position of rewarding them,” Sanders said. “We should be looking at the type of increase the county can afford, not give everyone an increase.”
Council also approved the wage committee’s recommendation for seven new county department positions, including four new full-time positions in the County Sheriff’s Department work release and one each in the treasurer’s, assessor’s and clerk’s offices. Tandy said the wage committee agreed the new positions were necessary after seeking input from department heads.
“The department heads worked with us to keep the number as low as possible,” he said. “There were arguments made for 10 or 11 new positions (but) there’s still a considerable cost in seven new positions.”
The county budget of $38,352,742 was further discussed Thursday after being introduced at another special hearing Monday. The increase from last year’s $33.2 million includes an extra $2 million in the general fund, at a $17.7 million total; and $2.4 million more in the highway fund, for a $7.2 million total.
An adoption hearing will be Sept. 10.
Also Thursday, council approved a $422,045 budget for county Solid Waste, a 6 percent increase from last year due in part to the increased cost of disposing of CRT televisions; and a $488,938 budget for Plain Township, which council rather than township trustees had to approve for the first time because there are two volunteer firefighters on the trustee board.
(Story By The Times Union)
