Dougherty County Commission plans employee raises

ALBANY — The Dougherty County Commission’s Finance Committee will vote Friday on a budget recommendation that would give all its full-time classified employees a 2.86 percent merit pay increase and all employees either a 2 percent or 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment.

The full commission will determine whether to fund the additional costs through a slight millage rate increase of 0.539- or 0.595-mill, or to take the additional funding needed for the raises from the county’s $15.3 million fund balance. County Administrator Richard Crowdis has recommended the millage rate increase.

“Yes, we could draw the money out of our fund balance, but a pay increase of this kind is an ongoing thing, and there might come a time down the road when we would have to take out a significant amount and that would deplete our reserves,” Lamar Hudgins, the Finance Committee’s chairman, said. “The last time we raised the millage rate was in October of 2004 (2.5 mills), but we’ve decreased it several times since then.

“The millage rate increase needed to cover the employee pay raises would amount to around $24 a year on a $100,000 home. And the difference in a 2 percent and a 2.5 percent increase is minuscule.”

The proposed millage rate increase would not impact the county’s special services district.

Crowdis said there is no question the county’s employees are entitled to a pay increase.

“The last time we had a COLA increase was in 2007, and the last time we had a merit increase was in 2008,” the county administrator said. “(The increase) is something we need to do to salvage our work force.”

While the committee was adamant in its call for general employee pay raises, it was less receptive to calls for individual pay adjustments. It voted down a request from the Board of Tax Assessors for more than $12,000 in additional pay for Chief Appraiser Larry Thomas and a request by Department of Family and Children Services Director Kimberly Smith for salary supplements to 13 state employees in her department.

The state had, in the past, mandated that the county fund a portion of one DEFACS employee, but it took on the full salary starting with the new fiscal year. Smith wanted to divert an amount equal to the county’s portion of the funding to supplement her employees’ salary, but the board voted against the request.

Hudgins defended the decision not to increase Thomas’ salary.

“There’s no question that he’s underpaid based on a statewide salary comparison, but once we open that door, I can see every department head lining up out in the hallway making the same request for employees of theirs who deserve increases,” he said. “I don’t see how we can treat an individual employee any different than we do all our employees, no matter how deserving he is.”

In all, Crowdis’ recommended budget for FY 2016 is $1,409,387 more than the county’s FY 2015 budget. All but $327,905 of that total (.007 percent) is for increases in salaries and benefits.

The Finance Committee will vote Friday on recommendations to be made to the entire commission.