Murphy – A majority of the county board of commissioners voted to give county employees a cost-of-living adjustment that adds nearly half a million dollars to the annual budget.
The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners approved a 3 percent cost of living adjustment at the Aug. 2 board meeting after several county employees reportedly threatened to quit because they had not received a raise when officials implemented a new countywide pay plan in July.
Commissioners Jan Griggs and Cal Stiles opposed the COLA, arguing that the pay plan was not meant to be a raise, per se. Officials say the pay plan was meant to establish a pay scale that is competitive with neighboring counties in order to retain employees.
County employees had already received a 2 percent raise in July 2020 and an additional 3 percent raise in January 2021. After the new pay scale took effect last month, some employees received additional pay increases to bring their salaries into the competitive range. Employees who were already paid a competitive salary did not receive an increase.
“We were adjusting for the position, not the individual,” Griggs said about the pay plan, which added $1.6 million to the annual budget. “There are just a few who are not happy.”
Commissioner Randy Phillips said he doesn’t feel the county can afford to lose any employees as a result of not approving the COLA. Commissioner Dan Eichenbaum made similar statements.
“Our problem right now is our inability to retain qualified trained personnel,” Eichenbaum said. “Surrounding counties still pay higher salaries and often provide higher benefits and less demanding workloads. This is especially true for health-care workers, EMS, DSS and our school system.”
Eichenbaum, Phillips and Commissioner Gary “Hippie” Westmoreland voted to approve the 3 percent COLA, which adds $470,705.71 to the annual budget. With the approval, commissioners voted to redesignate about $270,000 from a stalled project to cover part of the COLA for the first year.