KINGWOOD — Preston County officials appeared before the Preston County Commission at a work session on Tuesday to ask for pay raises for their employees.
The officials overwhelmingly said their employees were talented, hard working, and in need of raises. Commission President Don Smith crunched the numbers throughout the session and said the raises asked for varied greatly from office to office — from 5%-13%.
Among the elected officials asking for raises was Sheriff Paul Pritt, who spoke to the commission about an increase at an Aug. 31 county commission meeting. The Dominion Post incorrectly reported that the raise was approved at the time.
Pritt reiterated the need for raises for his people to keep them on the job.
“None of us expected to get rich, obviously. They just want to pay their bills,” Pritt said. “And I think a lot of them struggle with that. I know a lot of them struggle with it.”
Pritt said he didn’t know if Preston County was the lowest paying agency in the area but it was near the bottom.
“We lost a guy that went to a competing agency and he’s making as much starting out as one of our captains, “ Pritt said. “ He’s somebody that’s been here 20 some years.”
County Clerk Linda Huggins and Circuit Clerk Lisa Leishman both drew attention to how hard their employees work in the face of ever-increasing workloads.
The benefits, sick days, and vacation time are great but that doesn’t pay for food or gas, Huggins said. She interviewed 15 people for a bookkeeper position at $14 an hour and was unable to fill it.
“And our workload is not getting smaller,” Huggins said.
Leishman said she has one of the smallest staffs and budgets in the county and her employees work hard with very little downtime. For a time, early in the COVID pandemic, the clerks had to run back and forth from their third floor office to help customers on the first floor.
The kind of work they do can’t be done at home with a laptop, Leishman said.
Prosecuting Attorney James Shay also asked for a 5% raise for each of his employees. Shay said the people in his office feel a sense of duty and know no county can pay what private practice can. He echoed Pritt none of them expected to get rich.
“Nevertheless, I do think we have a responsibility to reward and recognize, particularly, you know, there are several people in my office who have been there for decades, and they are almost not replaceable,” Shay said.
Assessor Connie Ervin asked for raises and said they went above and beyond during the pandemic — many using their own laptops at home and one replacing a personal computer that broke.
“So, this is the kind of dedication that you get from these people,” Ervin said.
Smith said he would break the numbers given to the commission down into the most detailed and standardized format he could for everyone to look at.
No action can be taken during a work session.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
