JPs vote to raise pay for workers
Two years ago Jefferson County was in financial distress and employee raises weren’t given a thought, but after Monday’s Quorum Court meeting, various county departments and elected officials will now see a raise on their next paycheck, retroactive to Jan. 1.
According to County Judge Gerald Robinson, the county has not been able to give employees raises in a number of years.
“It has been far too long and many of the employees have not made a living wage,” said Robinson. “Cost of living has continued to rise in past years and even today’s economic climate.”
According to Robinson, Jefferson County officials have not received as much as a 3% per year raise since 2008.
Robinson said Jefferson County is in a financial position to give 4% raises to all employees, a 5% increase to sheriff’s office certified deputies, and an 8% increase to all county officials elected to a four-year term, i.e., county clerk, circuit clerk, county treasurer, county tax collector, county assessor, county coroner, county sheriff and county judge.
The justices of the peace will also receive a 3% increase.
“This is just the beginning. We are going to talk about raises again, but it will at least be a 3%,” said Robinson. “By all means, as elected officials, we care about our employees just as much as anyone else. This is a starting point. This is not the end.”
Justice of the Peace Roy Agee said he felt the employees deserved a raise but cautioned giving them a 5% increase right away.
“Judge Robinson stepped up and crunched the numbers and said we’re financially solid enough to allow this,” Agee said. “He stated the next budget cycle in August, we can go ahead and give this raise now and then come August if we have the money, we’ll give them an additional raise.”
Agee said revenue coming from the casino would be affected by the snowstorm.
“We don’t have to give it all to them right now, because we don’t know where we are going to be in August,” he said. “We need to see where we are before we give all of our money away right now.”
The vote to pass the ordinance was delayed during the meeting as Justice of the Peace Alfred Carrol motioned to amend the original ordinance. In the amendment, Carrol proposed several alternatives to the percentages. His motion was seconded, which was followed by a back and forth discussion. Afterward, Carroll presented a 5% increase.
But because Carroll had already made a motion to amend the raises to 4%, excluding the justices of the peace, the Quorum Court needed to vote on the amended ordinance, but many were confused as to what the percentage they were voting for was.
Once the matter was cleared up, however, the vote on Carrol’s amendment failed 4 to 7.
The original ordinance was then motioned and seconded and was passed by the Quorum Court.
For clarification and point of record, Robinson asked the four justices who voted for the amendment and, in so doing, rejected the original ordinance, if they also wanted to reject their increase.
Justice Reginald Johnson and Justice Cedric Jackson said yes, they would reject their own raises, while Justice Reginald Adams and Justice Alfred Carroll, who proposed the amendment, said they would accept their raises.
In other county business, the vote on an ordinance requiring all elected officials to complete an offer approval form and job requisition/ pre-offer form before hiring potential employees was passed by the Quorum Court.
This procedure-request, from County Judge Gerald Robinson, comes after an employee was hired with the Jefferson County sheriff’s office during a hiring freeze and without the approval of the justices.
Consequently, the county did not pay the person for a month of work that he performed.
According to Robinson, the matter has been resolved and the employee has been paid.
Sheriff Lafayette Woods confirmed the employee is on the payroll as a Jefferson County employee.