Quorum Court to mull funding salary survey

The Union County Quorum Court will meet this morning, where they will consider whether to finance a salary survey comparing county employees’ wages and salaries against those of employees of other Arkansas counties.

At last month’s Quorum Court meeting, Union County Judge Mike Loftin said information had been sent to the Johanson Group, a consulting agency, about a potential salary survey. He said he expected a representative of the company to visit the Quorum Court’s Finance Committee before this month’s meeting to discuss a proposal for undertaking the survey.

Jody Cunningham, administrative assistant in the County Judge’s office, said a representative for the Fayetteville-based firm presented the salary survey proposal to the Finance Committee on March 8.

Today, the Quorum Court will decide whether to go forward with the survey, which will compare Union County employees’ wages and salaries against those of workers with equivalent jobs in other counties.

“Once we get that done, we’ll know where we stand, because we have some positions that I’m sure are underfunded and some may be overfunded - I don’t know,” Loftin said in February.

Justice of the Peace for District 11 Ross Burton asked whether the completion of a salary survey would allow the body to move forward with raises for county employees.

Last year, the Quorum Court approved 3% raises for county employees, with the exception of Union County Sheriff’s deputies, who were to receive 6% raises. In March 2020, the Quorum Court voted to postpone the raises indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential loss of revenue JPs expected the county to face in light of business shutdowns and depressed economic activity.

“After we get it done, we can look at raises again,” Loftin said last month.

District 1 JP and Finance Committee chairman Mike Dumas said the committee will be requesting $34,800 for the survey today.

Also on the agenda for this month’s meeting are reviews of a budget comparison and a recap of revenues for February 2021 and an update on the El DoradoUnion County Recreation Complex from District 3 JP Greg Harrison, who serves as the chairman of the Complex Board of Directors.

The Quorum Court will meet at 10 a.m. in the third floor conference room at the Union County Courthouse.