Carbon officials set the salaries for all county employees during the two-part annual salary board meeting this week.

The meeting began on Tuesday afternoon and after 2-and-a-half hours of discussion and motions, was adjourned until Wednesday morning. The salary board is required to meet at the beginning of each year to set the salaries for the year. This year, rather than giving a percentage raise across all departments, the county began to implement the new wage scale, which was the product of a salary study that was completed last year.

Last month, the commissioners approved the new wage scale and provided the courts and row offices with their recommendations for wages based on the new scales.

Several row officers, as well as the president judge differed on the recommendations, requesting significant increases for various positions. Some cited what they believed as misclassification for a position as the reason for the request, while others said that while the increases were a start, it still wasn’t enough to make sure they can retain their experienced staff.

Most requests were met with resistance, failing for the first, and sometimes, second and third motions.

Different percentages

It took approximately five hours to complete the process for the 403 county employees.

About nine employees will receive no increase for the year due to their higher end salaries already and salary study recommendations; about 40 positions will receive less than 1% raises and others will receive anywhere between 2 and 15% raises based on where their previous salary fell and the new scales matched up.

The lowest paid employee is now $13 per hour, up from $11.38 per hour.

Following the meeting, the commissioners explained that while the new salaries won’t make everyone happy, it was a starting point to getting salaries where they need to be.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner, who has been vocal over the years about the need to increase employee wages, said that while he voted no to the majority of the motions regarding additional changes to some employees’ salaries, he is in favor of a multi-step process, which he said was started during this meeting.

He thanked everyone for showing their passion towards their employees and noted that he hopes the next step in this process will be completed within the next year.

“I think we made progress,” Ahner said. “We don’t always win on every motion that we make, but this is something I think that we’re moving forward. That we are straightening salaries out. ... I think we have to work on this and get it done. It’s for the future, not just the coming year.”

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said that his action, which was to also vote no on the majority of the motions, was to reflect the position of the taxpayers of the county.

“The votes were not a reflection of, in any way, of the true value that I see of the employees of Carbon County giving to the residents of Carbon County through the services they provide day in and day out,” Lukasevich said. “But rather, the votes, and my votes reflected a principled position of attacking a decades old problem in its formation through a methodical process.

“Unfortunately, certain elements of that particular process have been thrown into disarray by some of the votes. But, inherent in this board’s ability is flexibility, adaptability and I have no doubt the misalignment of classifications that may be perceived will be reviewed in a timely manner.”

Difficult year

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein, who voted in favor for all the suggested changes to the already new salary scales, said that this was an “extremely difficult year for salaries” based on a number of factors.

He said that he feels the county is going to see the continued trend of resignations that it saw in 2022, as well as several requests for reexamining positions.

“I feel we’re going to lose a lot of good employees over this,” he said. “I just don’t feel that it is being recognized.”

He cited that if qualified employees with years of experience leave, it is going to be difficult to replace them with other qualified individuals based on the salaries that were set.

He warned that if the resignations continue, the county is going to be in trouble if one person, whether it be a child in Children and Youth Services or a defendant in the courts, falls through the cracks because of the lack of experienced employees.

Departments will now have the opportunity to review the accepted salaries and classifications and update job descriptions, as well as have the opportunity to appeal any decision in the coming months.