County employees get pay raise

The Marion County Board of County Commissioners (MCBOCC) unanimously approved a pay raise of $1 an hour for its employees at their March 1 regular meeting.

Initially, the board had a workshop scheduled for March 2 in order to discuss a compensation and wage study the county was conducting, but County Administrator Mounir Bouyounes recommended it be canceled until staff could gather additional data needed before a discussion could take place.

Instead, Bouyounes proposed giving a $1 an hour across-the-board pay increase.

“Based on the data I have, I can tell you we are way below the market,” Bouyounes told the board during the meeting. “This will help the people at the low end of the pay scale the same way it will help everyone else,” he said.

Amanda Tart, the executive director of administrative services for the county applauded the move.

“This is a great step toward meeting the state’s minimum wage requirements, without creating compression. We’re very grateful to the commissioners for their support of our employees at all levels,” she said.

According to Stacie Causey, a spokesperson for the county, the total estimated impact to the remaining portion of this fiscal year’s budget will be $1.4 million, $683,000 of which will come from the general fund. The impact on the next fiscal year’s budget is expected to be $2.5 million.

“I think it will help us a lot in being able to retain and attract employees,” said Bouyounes.

The raise will initially apply to the county’s non-union members, but Bouyounes indicated the compensation study will take into account union members as well.

“We’re going to take the contract that the [fire] union and management agreed on and we want to plug it into the study and see where we’ll be, and what else needs to be done in the future,” he said.

After a brief discussion amongst the board, the measure passed unanimously and will go into effect starting the next pay period.

“What a way to kick off employee appreciation month,” said MCBOCC Chair Carl Zalak III after the vote.