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County budget most likely to include employee raises
If the Bourbon County 2018 budget is approved as was discussed Thursday, county employees stand to see a wage increase.
Along with that increase, the commissioners also are proposing an increase in longevity pay. Commissioners did not consider any increases for salaried employees.
The increases will come without a mill levy increase, county commissioners said. The mill levy is remaining flat, at the 2017 rate of 66.602.
A statewide property tax lid has been implemented, but the law provides exceptions to increase a county’s mill levy without placing the issue before voters: public safety (law enforcement or emergency management) and if the Consumer Price Index rate increases.
Commissioners said they will not use those exceptions. They said the wage increases are possible without using the exceptions. The county has reduced its workforce by seven employees, individual budgets have been decreased, and property valuation has increased.
“It’s a combination of all those,” Second District Commissioner Jeff Fischer said.
Wage increases
Commissioners hashed out how to divvy up $105,651 available for wage increases prior to meeting with Terry Sercer, CPA with Diehl Banwart and Bolton of Fort Scott.
If the budget is approved with the proposed increases, the sheriff’s office and correctional center will use $105,651 of that amount and $73,710 will be used to provide increases to the remaining hourly county employees.
The calculation is based on 27 correctional center and sheriff’s office employees receiving a $1.75 per hour increase and 54 employees, who work 35 hours per week, receiving 75-cents more per hour. The correctional and sheriffs’ office clerical staff are included in the 54 employees.
The additional pay for sheriff’s office and correctional employees addresses numerous requests made by Sheriff Bill Martin to make his employees’ salaries comparable to those in other counties.
Martin, Undersheriff Ben Cole and Southeast Regional Correctional Center Major Bobby Reed have said numerous employees have left due to the amount of wages paid.
“If we’re losing people, it’s because of the pay or management,” Fischer said. “It’s one of those two things, or other opportunities.”
Commission Chairman Lynne Oharah said the increase should “rectify” the argument that employees are leaving to find higher paying jobs.
In 2015, Martin used $3,000 from his budget to order a survey from the Austin Peters Group. The survey included salaries of all county employees.
Martin has recently offered to pay for an updated study.
“If we shoot for somewhere in the middle of that (2015 study) this year and the middle of whatever the current reality is next year, I think that would be a logical progression,” Fischer said.
According to 2015 information Fischer had available Thursday, the average hourly wage for a deputy in other counties varies: $16 in Neosho County; $13 in Jefferson County; $16 in Coffey County; $10 in Cherokee County; $15 in Anderson County; $15.30 in Allen County.
With the proposed increase, a Bourbon County deputy’s wage will go from $13.84 per hour to $15.59. The undersheriff’s hourly pay will go from $17.44 to $19.19. The process server’s hourly wage will go from $11.37 to $13.12.
Longevity pay
New employees are paid beginning wage for the first six weeks. After that, employees are paid at slightly higher wage, and they remain at that rate of pay unless they change to a higher-paid county position.
Fischer said the longevity pay helps those employees who have been with the county longer and understand their jobs and how the county operates.
Public Works Director Jim Harris has pushed for the increase as he has several employees who have been with the county for numerous years.
Currently, after 2.5 years, employees receive an additional $1.25 per paycheck. The proposed increase will cost an additional $75,000 in 2018 and possibly $85,000 three years from now, Fischer said. With the current amount of the longevity pay, the county will pay a total of $77,250 with the new proposed rate.
The wage and longevity increases do not include healthcare insurance, which is expected to increase by $60,000 annually for the county.
Final budget
Commissioners expect to approve a proposed budget for publication Tuesday. The goal was to meet a state-recommended final budget deadline of Aug. 14, but commissioners said the budget won’t be finalized until Aug. 25.
There is no penalty for not meeting the recommended deadline, Oharah said. Commissioners finalized the 2017 budget in September 2016.