CLEVELAND - Dedicated White County employees will see a nice increase in pay following action taken by the White County Board of Commissioners Monday.
The commission approved a FY 2016 longevity-based pay adjustments for county employees.
Commission Chairman Travis Turner said during the budget time last summer the commission said it would take a look at compensation of employees based on the results of the county audit, and preliminary results of that audit show funds are there for the extra compensation.
Turner detailed the increases as follows: "employees with less than five years continuous service as of Dec. 1st [2015] will receive a 2.5-percent, or one-step, pay increase effective Deec. 1; employees with five years or more continuous service as of Dec. 1, will receive a 5-percent, or two-step, increase effective Dec. 1; and employees earning more than $60,000 a year will be capped at a one-step, which is a 2.5-percent increase, regardless of years of service.
White County Sheriff Neal Walden has been a long-time champion for extra compensation for county employees, bringing the issue up before the commissioners several times in the past. Walden said after the meeting Monday the planned pay increases are exciting news.
"It’s been a long coming and the board of commissioners has worked hard trying to come up with the monies to fund this, and as they said they’re going to try to look at a longevity package in the upcoming year, so I’m excited that we’re taking a look at this kind of stuff because I was losing employees left and right," Walden said.
One of the main pressure points that supported the increase, according to commissioners, was the county would take a new employee and train them and then - because they could make more money elsewhere - they would leave the county.
Commissioner Terry Goodger said lots of credit for the money for these increases goes to county department leaders who have helped the county hold the line on spending.
