A 75-cent per hour raise is on it’s way to Washington County employees. At their weekly meeting, the Washington County Board of Supervisors approved wage directives for county employees and took action on elected officials’ wages. They voted 4-1 to increase county employee’s pay by 75 cents per hour for all staff. Abe Miller was the lone nay vote, he spoke in favor of a cost of living increase. Jack Seward explained why he wanted it higher, “I understand that the federal cost of living is based upon one thing, but my consideration is also based upon where we live, what our local job situation is, and what we have to do to compete with the surrounding areas. Because the unemployment rate is so low right now, anybody that’s looking to hire or that needs to hire in the private sector, more than likely their job prospects, their new employees are going to come from the ranks or those that are already employed. So we’re going to have to compete to keep our good employees.”

The supervisors also voted 4-1 to raise all elected officials wages. They cut the recommendation from the county compensation board by 10%. The compensation board recommended a 3% increase for all, plus $1,000 adjustments for the county attorney, sheriff, treasurer, and recorder. Now that wage directives are set, department heads will have to set their budgets for fiscal year 2021. Those budgets will be reviewed by the supervisors in the first half of January.

County Official – Current Salary – Increase – FY 2020-21 Salary
Attorney – $117,819 – $4,081 (3.46%) – $121,900
Sheriff – $96,727 – $3,511 (3.63%) – $100,238
Auditor – $75,062 – $2,026 (2.7%) – $77,088
Treasurer – $71,457 – $2,829 (3.96%) – $74,286
Recorder – $70,425 – $2,801 (3.98%) – $73,226
Supervisor – $37,482 – $1,011 (2.7%) – $38,493