The Habersham County Commission this week delayed action on proposed pay raises for county employees, saying they need more time to study the county manager’s recommendations.
Habersham County Manager Alicia Vaughn and finance director Tim Sims presented commissioners with four proposed pay tables during their regular meeting on November 21. The pay tables cover General & Administrative positions, Sheriff’s office employees, Fire & EMS, and E-911 jobs. Vaughn says it will cost the county $1,206,095 to bring everyone up to the minimum salary range in those recommended pay tables, including new position classifications and merit raises. Based on the proposal, some employees could see as much as a 31% increase in their pay, according to Sims.
The money for the raises is in the current budget. Commissioners set aside $800,000 for salaries and $395,912 for cost of living increases. Of that, $603,048 would be applied to raises in FY 2023 if the board of commissioners approves the plan as presented.
In formulating the pay tables, county administrators say they took information from a pay study conducted earlier this year by Evergreen Solutions in Florida, and met with every department head in the county. During those meetings, they discussed each employee and recommended placement of the employee “within the proper range of the new pay grades.”
The county’s human resources department compiled the results into monetary figures.
The proposed pay tables include a 60% range between the minimum and maximum pay county employees can receive. The minimum hourly pay for entry-level positions would be at least $12.50. Currently, some entry-level county jobs pay $10 an hour.
The commission is expected to vote on the pay tables at their December meeting. While the employee pay raises will likely pass as recommended, commissioners are under pressure to ease spending.
T-SPLOST, taxes and voter distrust
In their first regular meeting since the defeat of T-SPLOST, commissioners got an earful from residents upset over county spending. They also found themselves in the unenviable position of defending their own $5,000 state-mandated pay raises.
In a letter to the editor published last week on Now Habersham, former Habersham County Republican Party Chair Bob Guthrie called out a recent spate of raises and perks for senior management. Guthrie’s letter outlined more than a quarter-million dollars of new spending on manager salaries and retirement plans, plus the creation of an $88,000-a-year assistant public works director’s position. Add to that a $7,654 annual salary increase for the county clerk and, next year, $25,000 more annually for county commissioners, and Habersham taxpayers will soon be spending over $434,000 more per year on 12 positions.
Guthrie and local attorney Doug McDonald have been sounding alarms over what they perceive as runaway spending for months. While some in county government and local media have dismissed and downplayed their concerns, others have noticed, especially those taxpayers still simmering over the commission’s decision to raise the millage rate this year.
“Those salaries are exorbitant, and that doesn’t belong in Habersham County,” said retired nurse Carole Lonergan during the public comments section of Monday night’s meeting. “That money is our money, and if you all live and pay taxes in this county, it is yours too.”
“We are just a county of around 45,000 people, I guess, and we are trying to spend like we were next door or kin to Gwinnett County,” said Larry Shedd. He pushed for more oversight of how the county’s tax dollars are spent.
Shedd blamed commissioners for the recent failure of T-SPLOST saying their actions and vagueness on how that sales tax revenue would be spent contributed to its defeat.
“The [Transportation] SPLOST, it did fail because of the tax increases. That was part of it,” he said. “Part of the reason is they don’t trust you. They don’t trust you to spend that money. I have heard that across this county. That is something the commission is going to have to work on.”
A “spending problem”
Much of the public discussion at the November 21st meeting echoed sentiments expressed in a joint letter released in September by the current Habersham County Republican Party Chair David Sosby and former county Democratic Party chair Virginia Webb: “It seems that the County doesn’t have a revenue (tax collection) problem; they have a spending problem,” they wrote.
Guthrie sought a pledge from commissioners that they would refuse the pay raises that are set to take effect in January.
“I think one thing that would restore trust in the commission is to find a way to avoid taking that $5,000- 50% increase in pay,” he told them.
None of the commissioners who were present at the meeting agreed.
Chairman Bruce Palmer and vice-chair Bruce Harkness both stressed that the raises are state mandated and that other elected county officials will be receiving them.
“The General Assembly gave commissioners a $5,000 a year raise, cost of living assessment. What people don’t understand is that is done basically every year. The only difference this year is they gave a set dollar amount rather than a percentage, and it is not just the county commissioners they gave it to. The Judges, the Clerk of Court, the Sheriff,” Palmer said.
Addressing Guthrie directly, Palmer asked, “Mr. Guthrie, have you been to talk with the Sheriff to ask him if he would give his money back?”
In response to the chairman, Guthrie acknowledged that he has not spoken with the sheriff but said that others who serve on commissions and authorities in the county “get paid zero and spend as much time doing as much as the commissioners do.”
To that, Palmer replied, “Nevermind. You wouldn’t understand.”
Guthrie said he’s asked state lawmakers to introduce legislation in the upcoming session to remove the burden of state mandated pay raises from counties. It’s unlikely, though, that such a measure could pass.
On the topic of spending, McDonald addressed the county’s plans to loan $3.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Habersham County Airport Authority to build more hangars at the airport. Rental income from the hangars would be used to pay back the loan. Referencing the tens of millions of dollars in bond debt county taxpayers already owe for the hospital, McDonald warned that if “things don’t go like they ought to” at the airport, taxpayers would again be on the hook.
“The people are fed up in this county,” he said. “The citizens of Habersham County have spoken with the defeat of the [Transportation] SPLOST. They have said no more taxes!”
“If you don’t listen to the people, they’re not going to listen to you when you ask them to vote for you when your time comes up for re-election,” warned McDonald. “The taxpayer’s best friend is known as a recall. A politician’s worst nightmare is the word recall.”
While it was not on the agenda, McDonald implored commissioners not to create a Public Facilities Authority (PFA). County manager Vaughn proposed the idea in October as a possible solution to a projected shortfall the county faces in constructing three new facilities voters approved in SPLOST VII.
A PFA, like the hospital and airport authorities, could assume debt for capital projects without voter approval.
McDonald’s appeal may not have been necessary. Commissioners would have to give unanimous consent to move the plan forward. One county commissioner told Now Habersham there aren’t enough votes. He said the PFA proposal is “dead.”
WATCH Nov. 21, 2022, Habersham County Commission meeting
