Supervisors discuss wage increases

After the Gage County Assessor considered giving her department raises Monday with money left over from an office equipment fund, the Gage County Board of Supervisors held a discussion at the regular Wednesday meeting to discuss raises.

Assessor Patti Milligan has since pulled her claim for raises to “equalize” her office with other county offices that have received raises within the past two years.

She said she will hold her request for raises until July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year when new budgets for each office are planned for the 2009-2010 year.

“We certainly are aware there have been some increases made by elected officials here in the county and that the county board has sometimes, I guess so far, reluctantly at least, signed the claims. So we’re as much to blame in at least some regard as the elected officials. We were led to believe we have no choice, but signed the claims. Maybe we do, maybe we don’t, that’s yet to be determined,” Supervisor Dave Anderson said.

Chairman Rex Adams said legal advice was sought on whether or not the county board, in controlling county funds, should also have control over the employees in the office, at least as far as raises go.

“Our advice to Patti was to hold off at least a couple weeks until this board had a chance to get its thinking mulled over a little bit, and come up with what our stance is going to be on the whole issue,” Anderson said.

Anderson said a “progressive rash” of raises have been popping up throughout county offices.

“Some have done it in a forward fashion. Some have done it on a more of a belligerent, in spite of us, fashion,” he said.  “With cost containment being really critical in the upcoming year, with negative cost of living figures, with the economy the way it is, it’s important to discuss this in advance of budget preparation to make sure that we’re all on the same page.”

Supervisor Matt Bauman said he has been working on a better way to handle county raises.

“My desire to come up with an appropriate, methodical, objective wage scale is not an insult to these departments. It’s just to provide guidance for other elected officials. I am absolutely not in favor of underpaying, and I don’t want to overpay anybody. But we need to come up with a wage scale,” Bauman said.

Bauman said he would like to sit down with other elected officials and compare wages, while also comparing wages with comparable counties in the Southeast Nebraska region.

“It’s going to be a compromise,” he said. “Some people are probably a little underpaid, some people are probably right on. We need to sit down and hash this out.”

Milligan told the board her employees make about $1-$1.85 less than other county offices.

“I feel that’s not right. I feel that needs to be equalized,” she said. “I think we need to sit down as a group, as a unified group, and get this all settled.”

She said she knows her timing is bad as her office just sent out valuation notices, which raised taxes for rural property.

“You go to budget July 1, so I have to address this issue now,” she said.

Adams said he wants to keep employee wages fair.

With Gage County being the highest unemployed county in the state, he said, it doesn’t make sense to hand out raises to county offices.

“A 10 percent raise to a guy who hasn’t had a raise in two years, or is lucky to have a job, is unacceptable,” he said.

Milligan stressed the point that she came to the board two years ago for raises which were never received, but other offices were able to raise wages by filing claims.

Adams said a definite system for raising wages in the county needs to be set, and should not be handled on a case-to-case basis as jobs change or work gets harder.

County Treasurer Laurie Wollenburg said she wanted to clarify raises she gave to her employees using money out of an office equipment fund.

She said she used the separate line item to keep within her budget.

“I kept within my budget, thinking that would be a good thing, instead of coming to the board for an increase,” she said.

Supervisor Ron Fleecs said he is still “suspicious” of her office.

A few years ago, he said, Wollenburg came to the board finance committee and asked to give her office employees a retroactive pay raise.

“We advised you against it. We did not think it was appropriate,” Fleecs said.

Wollenburg gave the raises to her employees, despite the advice from the finance committee.

“To me, that’s like saying, well, you asked us and we said don’t do it and you did anyway. So that really has stuck with me for two years,” he said.

Fleecs said he also disapproves of her office using funds allocated for office equipment to give raises.

“We give you a budget and we think your budget is what you actually need at the time. But when you go back and say, well, I’ve got some money left in the category here and I can go back and do this — that really bothers the heck out of me, Laurie,” he said.

“The only control we have is on your budget. So the next year when something comes up, what do you think we’re going to do? As chairman of the finance committee, I’m going to look at your budget and say, does she really need everything she says she needs, because she went and did this. I lost some trust.”

Wollenburg said she was simply trying to equalize her office, especially after title writing moved from the County Clerk’s Office to the Treasurer’s Office.

“We are just insanely busy,” she said. “The girls don’t even have time to take a break.”

The board agreed that members of separate committees as well as other elected officials should meet in the future to come up with a proper wage scale, preferably by July 1 when the board begins examining budgets.