The Shawano County Administrative Committee is recommending sizable pay hikes in 2014 for newer dispatchers and highway workers, although most county employees won’t be getting increases.
The committee voted 4-1 to let the pay increases go through for four dispatchers and seven highway workers, with Supervisor Deb Noffke casting the no vote.
Dispatchers that started with the Sheriff’s Department in 2013 have received no pay increase. Prior practice was to give raises at six months, two months after their probationary periods had ended. The four dispatchers, ranging in tenure from six to 16 months, are getting $16.72 per hour, while their co-workers are making $19.79 per hour.
The dispatchers hired in 2012 received a 1 percent pay increase when the county approved an across-the-board raise last year.
The Sheriff’s Department is recommending the four newer dispatchers receive $18 an hour beginning Jan. 1, a 7 percent hike in pay. While the raise won’t get those dispatchers on the same level as the others, it could deter them from seeking higher paying positions in other counties, Dispatch Manager Maria McCoy said.
“They’re looking at the person at the console next to them who is making $6,000 a year more than them and doing the exact same job,” McCoy said.
The request passed the Public Safety Committee 4-1 in August.
Highway Commissioner Grant Bystol has seven employees who are in the same situation as the dispatchers, currently making $17.23 to $18.27, depending on the position. He is proposing increasing their pay 96 cents per hour, a hike of 5½ percent.
The Highway and Parks Committee gave Bystol’s request a unanimous endorsement.
Noffke did not like the idea of giving pay increases to a select few when the county is telling most employees that a modest pay hike is not possible for next year.
“Look outside the courthouse. There are some people who haven’t got any raises,” Noffke said.
Administrative Coordinator Tom Madsen also had reservations about the pay increases, saying that it equates to cherry picking.
“You have to think of the morale issue among the county employees,” Madsen said. “When you have one or two or three groups getting pay increases and nobody else does, what does that tell the other employees?”
McCoy and Bystol both said the money for pay increases can be covered through their proposed departmental budget allocations. McCoy said the pay increase will come out of the overtime she would have had to pay other dispatchers if the new ones leave.
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