BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Union County Commissioners delayed a decision on a proposed merit-based raise policy following a contentious debate over the county’s questionable financial outlook.
The proposed policy change, explained by County Coordinator Jimmy Williams, would have given county department heads more autonomy in granting pay raises.
Williams presented the idea as a precursor to a discussion and vote at a future board meeting. However, Commissioner Donna Jackson registered her immediate disapproval of the idea.
“I’ll just toss out there,” she told her colleagues, “that I don’t know how we could put this into effect, realizing that it could (mean) sweeping pay raises when we can barely afford a (cost-of-living adjustment) right now. I don’t know how we put in a policy that says, okay, you can do this and you can do that when we’re struggling just to get a minimum of money in the budget for a raise.”
Department heads could abuse policy
Jackson then outlined several scenarios in which department heads could abuse the policy, including steering raises toward personal favorites at the expense of other department workers, using funds intended for another purpose within a department budget for a raise, and concealing raises within departments from commissioners.
She pointed out that most departments, like Fire and Emergency Medical Services, the Road Department, and Solid Waste are already running deficits and must be supported by General Fund transfers.
She then theorized that the proposed policy might be a way to give employees a raise without going through the board’s budgeting process.
“I guess I’m just cautious because I feel like this is an answer to, ‘Okay, we didn’t get what we wanted in our budget discussion, so let’s pass this policy and we can do it anyway.’ Maybe that’s happened. Maybe that didn’t happen. I don’t know. But I don’t like the feel of it. It feels kind of slimy to me, and that’s just me.”
Low pay affects taxpayers
Commissioner Melissa McNeal said low wages and the resulting staff turnover ultimately affect the county’s service level.
“When I get complaints,” she said, “…whether it’s the roads or whether it’s (Emergency Medical Services), anything like that, a lot of times I can drop back to: there’s been a turnover in the employees, and when we can’t keep employees because we can’t pay them well, then our citizens are seeing the results of it.”
Commissioner Mac Johns argued that the proposal would give department heads the autonomy they need to run their departments properly. He added that constitutional officers, like the sheriff and tax collector, already have such independence, and grant raises to employees without board approval.
“(Like the) sheriff’s office, Donna. I started over here for Jerry Whitehead, making ($20 an hour), and in two years, I was up almost to 50,” he told Jackson. “He never once asked a commissioner if he could raise me, and he never once raised his budget, and at any year he gave money back.”
County finances better than expected
Jackson emphasized the county’s uncertain financial outlook. Johns responded with a question to Clerk Kellie Rhoades.
“Are we really in that bad of financial shape right now with your projected revenue?”
Rhoades responded that the board budgeted a $1.7 million deficit for 2024-2025. However, now, the actual deficit appears to be around $200,000 for the current fiscal year because of additional revenues and fewer expenses than projected.
Jackson and Johns then engaged in a debate over to what extent commissioners manage department heads, with Johns claiming the panel micromanages them and Jackson arguing the opposite.
“I don’t feel like we micromanage our directors,” Jackson told Johns. “I feel we don’t, and sometimes I don’t feel like we manage them at all. I mean, we are their bosses, and we’re not calling them in here and calling them on the carpet… When’s the last time you saw this board fire a director?”
Later in the meeting, when Fire and Emergency Medical Services Director Brent Allen told the board he had made a $160,000 mistake in his 2025-2026 estimate for bad debts, Johns turned toward Jackson and quipped, “This is your chance to fire your first director.”
