Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412120035
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The raises would be an adjustment made midway in the county's fiscal year. More than 100 county workers showed up en masse last month before the board to request a 2 percent raise and further study of the pay issue to stop high turnover and sagging morale.
Earlier this week, Linkous and other supervisors talked about the idea of a one-time adjustment just for those workers on the lower end of the county pay scale.
But Linkous said Friday newly prepared revenue estimates show Montgomery has enough money to give Jan. 1 raises to all 140 county workers.
"I have reviewed the projected revenue from several different sources and have determined there will be some funds available greater than our earlier projections have shown," Linkous said. "I feel like the most valuable assets we have are our employees."
Granting the raise, however, will require at least three more votes on the Board of Supervisors. The board is to tackle the issue during its 7 p.m. Monday meeting at the county courthouse.
There would not be enough extra revenue, Linkous said, to give raises to the more than 600 county teachers.
At least one supervisor, Nick Rush of Christiansburg, has expressed concern about the fairness of an adjustment for county government employees alone. Teachers' pay increases this year were scaled back from the 3 percent the School Board proposed in January to 2.5 percent, at the supervisors' urging.
The Board of Supervisors also scaled back an average 4.5 percent increase for its own workers to 2.5 percent. That was to avoid a higher property tax increase than the 2 1/2 cents the board the board finally settled on in April, the first tax major increase in three years.
County Administrator Betty Thomas said the cost of a 2 percent increase for all employees would be approximately $26,000.
Because of high turnover this year, the board could pay for the increase out of money already budgeted for salaries, Thomas said. That's because the county has lost 27 workers this year, including several high-salary employees whose replacements were hired at a lower salary.
Linkous said there's still a problem at the bottom end of the pay scale, as other board members, including Ira Long of Prices Fork, have stressed. "I feel like we're going to have to make some further adjustments to the bottom-end salaries, but that's a separate issue."
Linkous said he would view a Jan. 1 raise as a one-time adjustment to bring county salaries up to par, and not something the board would normally do. He said he expected the board would look at the salary issue again at budget time in the spring.
Also Monday, the board will hear revenue projections for the 1995-96 county budget from Carol Edmonds, the newly hired finance director.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***