District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks is hoping a study on county wages across the state may help lead to higher wages for Lowndes County workers.
Brooks has sent questionnaires to 43 counties across Mississippi that use the unit system of government, as Lowndes County does, to request wage information for a number of positions, including county administrator, road worker positions, fire officials and others.
In a unit system, supervisors represent the counties’ districts, but authority in the county is shared across the board as a whole. Unit systems also include a county administrator, who is not a supervisor. This is in contrast to the 38 counties still operating under the beat system, where supervisors have significantly more administrative authority within their elected districts.
So far, Brooks said he’s received 17 replies, including three from counties that returned the questionnaire without the county name attached. He said he’s yet to start comparing the data to Lowndes County, as he’d like to have around 25 responses before he considers bringing his findings before the rest of the board of supervisors.
Once responses reach that number, Brooks said he’ll compile a spreadsheet comparing the results to Lowndes County for presentation. He said he hopes to bring the results before the board in November.
Brooks said he particularly wants to see responses from Oktibbeha and Lee counties, because they’re the closest counties of generally-comparable size to Lowndes.
The study stems from the board’s Sept. 15 meeting, where he unsuccessfully stumped for a $1,000 per year pay raise for county employees. He said the raise, with benefits included, would cost the county about $360,000 a year. The county’s budget for fiscal year 2016-17 includes a $700,000 shortfall.
“I understand that the decision has been made by some of the board members that there’s not going to be a raise, so I guess to some degree, this study could be for naught,” Brooks said. “But it provides an opportunity to do kind of a comprehensive evaluation of how we do things. Part of being a growing county and a progressive county also includes how you treat your personnel.”
Sanders: Wages are adequate
The last pay raise for county employees took effect at the start of the 2014-15 fiscal year, according to County Administrator Ralph Billingsley.
Board President Harry Sanders said he hasn’t seen any of the responses Brooks has received. He said he thinks Lowndes County’s worker pay is generally adequate, adding he doesn’t want the county employees to be on either the low or high end of the “totem pole.”
“I think most of our employees are making OK wages,” Sanders said. “Everybody wants to make more money, but we’ve got to be stewards for the public’s money.”
Sanders also noted that when the board approves raises, it does so at a flat amount for all employees, rather than as a percentage. He said that’s done to prevent wages pay gaps between employees from growing.
“Say for example that a guy makes $10 an hour and you give him a 3 percent raise, he gets a 30-cent raise,” Sanders said. “If a guy makes $5 an hour and you give him a three percent raise, he only gets 15 cents. As you go through the years, if those people stay in the same position the disparity between the two gets greater and greater and greater.”
Sanders, noting that Brooks pushes for county employee raises every year, expressed skepticism in Brooks’ proposal or that the county can afford to increase wages the way Brooks would like.
“He’s done it every year for 32 years,” Sanders said. “He knew full well that we couldn’t afford it or do it. He knows full well that our employees are on a higher scale.”
Brooks, though, said that Lowndes County, as the second-wealthiest county in the state, should be able to pay its employees at a higher rate.
“When you recognize that there are counties not as financially strong as we are — they build in an annual 3 percent cost-of-living (raise),” Brooks said. “I think out of fairness to our employees, we can do better.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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