Schuylkill County commissioners on Thursday signed off on a new contract for Children and Youth Services agency employees.

The five-year pact, which replaces one that expired Dec. 31, 2012, grants 3 percent salary increases and sets the amount workers pay for health benefits at $80 a month next year; $90 in 2016 and $100 in 2017.Before, employees had a choice of three plans. In some cases, the new payment amounts are double or triple what they had been paying, depending on their plan, said Human Resources Director Martina Chwastiak.The new contract collapsed the three plans into one, the same as for all other contracts, she said.The new pact also eliminates a "ride out" provision that allowed an employee to continue to receive accrued sick pay and keep his or her job open until the actual day of termination or retirement.That provision was taken out of all of the recently settled contracts, she said.The Pennsylvania Social Services Union Local 668 contract affects about 100 employees.Efforts to reach agency Director Lisa Stevens were unsuccessful Thursday.The contract is the sixth of seven the county handles. Six have been settled over the past two years, said County Administrator Mark Scarbinsky.The seventh one for this round of settlements, with the Teamsters Union for prison employees, expires at the end of this year and will be negotiated in January.In other matters Thursday, commissioners agreed to pay GeographIT, Lancaster, up to $38,450 to upgrade the WSchuylkill Parcel Locator to being it up to speed with new technology. The parcel locator allows people to view property records, including market values, locations, ownership, layout by typing in a tax ID number, address or name.