KINGWOOD — Preston County employees will receive a combined $220,585 increase in annual salary after the Preston County Commission unanimously voted to approve the raise at a special meeting on Thursday.
“We want to do what we can to help our employees,” Commission President Don Smith said, “We want to keep quality employees, because you have to pay them accordingly so that you can continue to have the services to support the citizens of the county.”
Smith said it’s more efficient in the long-run to give raises to keep experienced employees and their knowledge. While he wishes they could give raises every year — sometimes it’s just not in the budget.
The increase is retroactive to July 1, the start of the fiscal year. County Clerk Linda Huggins said both the raises and a lump sum for time already worked should be on employees’ Nov. 15 paycheck.
The commission initially allotted just under $250,000 for the raises at a special meeting on Oct. 7. The next week, it was discovered the calculations did not account for the difference in previously worked overtime.
The total costs for the raises is $261,200, which includes the difference in already worked overtime, salary increases, and the increase in FICA, a federal payroll tax.
County Administrator Kathy Mace told the commission they would still have about $8,000 above the 5% contingency the commissioners want to stay above.
Not dropping below that 5% was one of the biggest concerns, Smith said.
He told The Dominion Post keeping an emergency fund should be important for everyone.
“That contingency’s there for emergencies, so God forbid the roof blows off the courthouse,” Smith said. “Well, if you don’t have any money, I mean, people that don’t save for a rainy day are apt to get wet.”
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