Some of the county’s elected officials attended a county commission workshop last week to express concerns over the proposed new pay scale for county employees.
The new pay plan, pending the adoption of the 2016-17 county budget by the commission, would give all employees of the Clerk and Master, County Clerk, Trustee, Register of Deeds, Circuit Court Clerk, Assessor of Property, and the County Mayor’s offices an increase in salary. They would be paid at a percentage of their employer’s salary, however, which is where the officials disagree with the commission.
While Circuit Court Clerk Katherine Pack and Trustee Sean Driver spoke against the measure at a recent budget committee meeting, with Clerk and Master Deborah Malone and Assessor of Property Scott Cantrell attending in support, County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss and Register of Deeds Jeff McMillen joined them at the workshop to ask that they reconsider the plan.
The sticking point is that because the county mayor earns $10,000 more than the other elected officials, his two employees would make more than the clerks in their offices.
“I consider my employees to be just as important as they are,” McMillen told the commissioners. “Every office is important, or they wouldn’t have it. I can’t imagine how you can think that they are worth $4,000 more than my employees just because Tim (Stribling) makes $75,000 and I make $65,000. I’m not asking you to take anything away from Tim’s girls. They are important. They write the checks. They pay the bills and all that. We record the deeds, so we’re important too, or we wouldn’t be there. Every office has got a function.”
McMillen also expressed displeasure that the mayor’s employees may potentially earn extra money writing grants on behalf of the county. “They’re splitting that money, and basically getting over $2,000 more than what our employees are,” he said.
McMillen warned the commission that there would be division and hurt feelings if employees of one office made more money than others.
“Tell me what the difference is between those girls and mine?” he asked. “They don’t have to have a BS degree. They don’t have to have an Associate’s Degree. All they have to do is come in and apply for a job and him (mayor) be willing to hire them because he thinks they can help him.”
Budget Committee member Jack Barton said that in government, as in business, the fact that some jobs pay more than others.
“I think there needs to be an honest appreciation of the fact that there are different accountabilities all across our county and in your offices,” Barton said. “If you are the manager at Food Lion, Walmart, or Federal Mogul there are people who stand side by side that earn different wages. In my mind those two people (mayor’s employees) are not statutory clerks, as all of your employees are. They don’t take an oath of office. That doesn’t have any bearing on the raise, but in that (mayor’s) office, if you went to a CPA and asked what it would take to do payroll for 120 people, you would get a lot higher salary than probably either one of those girls make. And take into consideration accounts payable for our size county. That’s just the way I look at it.”
McMillen said rumors of a lawsuit if the budget passes were unfounded.
“There is no lawsuit guys,” he said. “We’ve never met with any attorney. We’ve not talked about that. I don’t want a lawsuit. That’s not what we’re here for. When lawsuits are happening, it’s bad for all of us because you know who pays for every bit of it? The county does. We’re not into a lawsuit. We’re into a discussion. I only ask that you look at paying everybody the same. I owe it to my employees to represent them.”
