Council considers possibility of increasing salaries due to significant employee turnover

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Significant turnover is prompting the Bartholomew County Council to reconsider a second effort to approve larger salaries for most county employees.

When this year’s budget was finalized in October, only council members Jorge Morales and Mark Gorbett voted in favor of a 5% increase for more than 400 employees. Other members, including Greg Duke and Scott Bonnell, supported a 3.5% pay hike.

But since then, Duke and Bonnell have been replaced on the seven-member council by Republicans Greg Patterson and Leah Beyer.

After Morales was made council president and Gorbett was voted in as president pro-tem, Gorbett departed from the agenda by first noting other government units were providing large raises this year due largely to inflation.

“We watched surrounding counties, and even in our city, approve a 6% to 7% raise for our public service officers,” Gorbett said. “In talking with (Patterson and Beyer), I’ve learned there were concerns in our community about retaining our people with a decent salary.”

Both Gorbett and Morales say they believe at least four of the seven council members will support an additional 3% raise during a vote next month to raise most salaries of county employees by 6.5%.

Morales also announced that the council will discuss the possibility of hiring a human resources director for the county during their Feb. 6 work session.

Morales and Gorbett plan to advertise their proposal for the pay hike that will be made retroactive back to Jan. 1. The new council president says he hopes to have a vote on the matter during their public meeting as early as next month.

So how much will these raises cost?

“Somewhere in the ballpark of $750,000 a year, so we have plenty of money in our funds to cover it,” Bartholomew County Auditor Pia O’Connor said. “I do believe we short-changed our employees at budget time when inflation is as high as it is.”

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.