Schuylkill County commissioners on Thursday authorized a new, five-year contract for more than 100 unionized Children and Youth Services Agency workers.

The contract, with members of Pennsylvania Social Services Union, Local 668, S.E.I.U. runs from Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2022.

Union members had already ratified the pact.

Under the terms of the pact, the workers will receive 3 percent salary increases for each year, and pay more each month for health benefits.

They’ll pay $110 a month in 2018; $120 in 2019, $130 in 2020, $140 in 2021, and $150 in 2022.

Also in the contract is a provision that requires prior approval for absences the day before and the day after a holiday, said County Administrator Gary R. Bender.

The new pact keeps the same reimbursement rate for health care deductibles: $500 for individuals and $800 for families, he said.

Also changed were the days on which the workers take holidays. They had gotten the same number of holidays as other county employees, but some of the actual days were different. Now, the days are the same ones the other employee get, Bender said.

Commissioners’ Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. expressed gratitude.

“I want to thank the whole team for the work done,” he said.

County solicitor Al Marshall also thanked Human Resources Director Deborah Twigg for her “exceptional” work on the contract.

The previous contract expired on Dec. 31, 2017. It also granted 3 percent annual salary increases, and a graduating increase in health care contribution, ending at $100 a month.

County officials are currently negotiating contracts for 911 and Office of Senior Services employees, Bender said.

In other matters at the work session, the county salary board denied a request from the conservation district to provide $2,000 compensation each to Patrick McKinney and Martie Hetherington for work they did on a short-term basis.

Hetherington served as interim district manager/Chesapeake Bay Coordinator, and McKinney as interim district manager/Environmental Education Coordinator.

Each worked 10 weeks.

The district would have reimbursed the county the money.

Salary Board members Controller Christy D. Joy and Halcovage voted against the stipend, saying they were concerned it might set a precedent for other county affiliated offices.

There was some discussion, too, that the request, which came from the conservation district, not Hetherington or McKinney, was not made through proper channels.