Paying the troops

DAVID HULSE
Posted 1/11/17

HONESDALE, PA — The Wayne County Commissioners quietly appropriated a big chunk of the county’s $32 million budget on January 5, when they approved county employee pay schedules for 2017. …

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Paying the troops

Posted

HONESDALE, PA — The Wayne County Commissioners quietly appropriated a big chunk of the county’s $32 million budget on January 5, when they approved county employee pay schedules for 2017.

Business manager John Haggerty said employee salaries roughly amount to 45 to 50% of the budget.

Some county programs are state and federally subsidized. In August, the commissioners approved Wayne’s $5,407,435 child welfare budget for 2016-17. The county’s share of that figure this year was said to be approximately 20%.

In separate resolutions, the commissioners adopted a schedule for:

 250 existing full-time employees (35-40 hours weekly) amounting to $8.8 million;

One for any new full- and part-time (hourly) hires in 127 positions. Most entry-level jobs show an increase of about .17%, while some specialized positions show greater increases—a prison warden would get 11% more, a county detective’s salary increases 12.9%, and a 911 coordinator would earn 34% more in 2017.

 Commissioner Wendell Kay said some salary changes were due to the commissioners’ efforts to standardize functions and equally compensate for like duties in various departments.

The commissioners also approved a schedule for 61 classified part-time, per diem and hourly employees. All told, Wayne employs about 500 persons.

The new hires’ schedule is the only one of the three that allows for comparison by including both 2016 and 2017 salaries.

Last week’s approvals did not include the salaries of elected employees and those salaries do not appear on the county website or in the budget. Total operating costs of elected offices are included in the budget, but the published version does not break out details like personal services and contractual costs. For example, the commissioners’ office expenditures in the budget are listed at $577,595.11, while salaries for its six appointed employees amount to $285,499.64.

Additionally, the commissioners approved promotions for 13 employees.

In other business, Haggerty recommended and the commissioners approved a bid from The Wayne Bank to provide a tax anticipation note of $2 million to cover county costs while tax revenues are collected.

The commissioners also re-appointed Richard Teeter to a five-year term on the county’s Health and Hospital Authority, re-appointed Lawrence Lieberher to a new five-year term on the South Wayne Water and Sewer Authority, set the county mileage rate at $.45 per mile and heard parting remarks from Commissioner Jonathan Fritz, who was attending his last meeting before joining the state House of Representatives, representing the 111th House District. Joseph Adams, who was appointed later in that morning, will be joining the commissioners’ panel on January 12.

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