Committee recommends 2-percent raises

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The county’s personnel committee will recommend a 2-percent raise for most employees in 2018’s budget.

Meeting for the second consecutive week to discuss raise recommendations, Jay County’s personnel committee on Thursday recommended 2 percent as the base raise with an additional increase for employees that in specific job classifications.

Employees classified as “civilian protective occupations” — a category that includes jailers, EMTs and other law enforcement employees — will be recommended to receive a 4-percent increase. Those classified as labor, trades and crafts — a category which includes many county highway department employees — and computer and office machine technicians will be recommended to receive a 2.5-percent raise.

The recommendations grew out of a salary analysis by the consulting firm of Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates, which found that pay rates for some county employees were lagging behind comparable nearby counties. That was especially true for EMTs and paramedics.

“That does close our gaps a little bit,” said county council president Jeanne Houchins, who chairs the personnel committee.

“We’re closing the gap,” agreed committee member Ted Champ, also a member of the Jay County Council. “Maybe we’re not doing it as fast as we’d like, but we’re doing it. … If we give too much of a raise, the next year we’ve got nothing and maybe the next year. … You can’t run the county in the red.”The committee’s Thursday recommendation now goes to the Jay County Council, which will include 2018 pay levels in its budget discussions next month.

“The strategy we’re using, I think, is right,” said committee member Chuck Huffman, president of the Jay County Commissioners.

Jay County auditor Anna Culy said the proposed pay-raise scenario would have a $79,988.60 impact on the 2018 budget. Personnel spending is expected to increase a total of $113,795.60 when an additional probation officer, which has already been approved, is added into the equation.

The committee took no action on a request by surveyor Brad Daniels that ditch mileage and milestone compensation be included in his base pay when calculating the salary for his deputy. However, Culy noted that her research indicates that the matter is something within the authority of the county council.