Isabella finalizes pay hikes for nonelected offices

It took nearly a year, but Isabella County finalized its new employee classification system that resulted in pay hikes for most county employees.

Wage adjustments were made for employees of the county’s elected officers last December and earlier this year. Addressing employees of non-elected offices and the Trial Court was supposed to take place in March, but was put on hold due to COVID-19.

Commissioners worked off a proposal from County Administrator Margaret Mcavoy based on recommendations froma2016 wage and compensation study. Mcavoy didn’tmove forward with everything the study suggested, in particular recommendations to reduce pay in certain positions.

All along, commissioners and Mcavoy said that doing this would cause morale problems for employees, most of whom the study said were underpaid.

In addition, employees affected by Tuesday night’s decision were given wage increases retroactive to April 1. In doing so, Mcavoy told commissioners that it wasn’t the fault of county employees that COVID-19 disrupted operations and that they shouldn’t be punished for it.

The additional pay will cost $232,000, which was part of a budget amendment passed last month for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Those wage hikes will create an ongoing expense for the county. That originally concerned Commission Vice Chairman Jimhorton, a Union Township Republican from District 4.

Tuesday night, Horton said he’d come around to seeing the wage hikes as an investment to make the county competitive in attracting high- quality employees.

That was a significant issue last year in both the prosector’s office and sheriff’s department, both of which had difficulty maintaining staffing levels.

Both offices were first in line for wage adjustments. At the time, Mcavoy called it a public safety issue.

Since the wage hikes were implemented, staffing levels in both offices have improved.