Murphy – Following an impassioned speech by Sheriff Derrick Palmer on Dec. 7, the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to give all county employees a 3 percent raise effective Jan. 1.
“We are having a tremendously hard time retaining employees,” Palmer said. “We train them, get them certified, spend about 18 months getting them where they need to be and then someone else comes along and offers them more money and they leave. If we ever want to retain those highly specialized employees, as a county, we need to pay people what they’re worth.”
Palmer said the sheriff’s office and connected detention center have lost several employees who earned specialized certifications because all neighboring law enforcement agencies, including the towns of Andrews and Murphy, pay officers more money.
“[Cherokee Tribal Police] is getting ready to do an increase with starting pay at $55,681, which is $11.61 more an hour than we are making,” Palmer said, expressing fear that he could lose the majority of his deputies over the next six months if the pay increase is approved by the tribal council.
Prior to Palmer’s speech, newly elected Commissioner Randy Phillips was planning to propose a 3 percent pay increase for all county employees. Palmer’s argument seemed to seal the deal.
While Commissioner Jan Griggs ultimately voted in favor of the pay raise, she felt the county needed to conduct a pay study and establish a countywide scale before approving any salary increases. Commissioner Dan Eichenbaum agreed with Griggs but said he felt the county was in a “critical situation.”
“I think what you’re proposing is probably the most prudent thing to do,” Eichenbaum said to Griggs. “But under these circumstances, I would be in favor of a 3 percent raise across the board now, and that’s kind of a down payment on what we’re going to need to do when budget time comes in six months.”
The pay raise will cost the county about $225,000 over the next six months leading up to the new fiscal year. Commissioners also voted to contract a company to conduct a pay study, which will cost the county about $32,000.
County employees received a 2 percent pay raise beginning this past July as a part of the fiscal year budget negotiations. However, county officials believe the combined 5 percent raise is still below the pay others are receiving at similar positions throughout the region.