The Bartholomew County Council had an easy decision to make recently: Whether taxpayer dollars should fund county employees’ salaries so that they are in the middle — not less than — what comparable Indiana counties pay their employees.
Yet with a veritable pirate’s booty at their command — and knowing that just a tiny portion of it would meet this goal — council members could not demonstrate that our public workers are worth a few extra bucks.
The county paid to conduct a salary survey and got the results recently. The survey said the county would need to ante up about $404,000 to raise county employees’ salaries to the middle of the pack of peer counties, The Republic’s Mark Webber reported last week.
But the county council didn’t do that. They quibbled over the survey details then moved on.
That was wrong. It reflects badly on county leaders, especially if you happen to be a county employee who’s watching this process.
The council should have appropriated the $404,000 and given department heads a framework to increase county workers’ pay so that they are at least in the middle of the pack of comparable county workers around the state.
We say this was an easy decision for the council to make because of what Webber reported just a few days later: The council also voted to move $4.23 million into the county’s Rainy Day Fund, bringing the eye-popping hoard of cash county leaders are sitting on to more than $10 million.
Much as we applaud the county for fiscal stewardship, we wish their judgment was as sound where our public-serving county employees are concerned.
There has never been so much cash in county coffers, yet the people in charge of managing and dispensing it cannot bring themselves to get workers up to average, salary-wise, compared to comparable counties. Why should workers have to wait when just a paltry 4% of cash in the Rainy Day Fund would bring them up to parity with their peers statewide? Moreover, why did the council even bother paying for a salary survey if this is the result?
Frankly, this is not a lot of money, but the council’s inaction has a reputational cost. Why should skilled workers with plenty of options available remain loyal to a cash-flush county government that tells them, “we’re not sure you’re worth it”? As Webber reported, County Auditor Pia O’Connor told the council that many county workers have found jobs in the private sector over the years. And it costs the county to recruit and train new workers.
The fact is, the county has twice as much surplus money — our tax dollars — as it has had at any time in the past 10 years. And council members’ fears of a potential nuclear war is a macabre excuse for not giving public servants an extra dollar an hour or so.
“From now until August, if the world is still here, we’re going to have to study this real hard,” councilman Bill Lentz said.
Councilman Lentz, county residents expect you to worry about tomorrow as if the world will be here. Furthermore, our tax dollars just paid professionals to study this real hard. They even gave you the answer.
“There’s no question that salaries are a priority …,” Councilman Greg Duke said. “But we are also hanging on to money because we are facing circumstances beyond our control.”
So are county employees, Councilman Duke. Ask them about inflation sometime.
