Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 13, 1995                   TAG: 9507130025
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Short

MONTGOMERY'S TOP EXECUTIVES GET RAISES

The county Board of Supervisors reviewed the job performances of County Administrator Betty Thomas and County Attorney Roy Thorpe in a closed session June 26. The board excluded the review from the public as allowed by the state's open-meeting law.

Supervisors Chairman Larry Linkous then OK'd the raises in a June 28 memo. Thomas, a county employee since 1972, will be paid $74,206 a year, an increase of $4,919, or 7 percent.

Thorpe, with Montgomery since 1984, will be paid $69,663, a raise of $5,250, or 8 percent.

Last year, the board reviewed the county's management duo in detail for the first time since 1991 and made recommendations that included improving communications.

"We're pleased that all those things we talked about last year are being worked on," Linkous said. He said Thomas and Thorpe have improved lines of communication within the county government.

The new salaries include both the 5 percent pay adjustment given all 125 county employees - not including teachers and those working for state-affiliated offices - and a merit increase. Thomas received a 2 percent merit increase and Thorpe a 3 percent increase.

Linkous said that difference had less to do with job performance than with saving money.

"They're the two highest-paid employees in the county," he said. "We were looking at dollars, too."