In an effort to get the ball rolling on a pay-scale agreement for county employees, the budget committee met with county officials and members of their staffs Tuesday night to discuss the matter.
While everyone involved agreed that a wage scale based on years of service needs to be established, some elected officials oppose the idea of enacting a system of job classification.
All employees of the elected officials at the courthouse and county complex  currently receive $23,024 per year, except for one  employee in the assessor of property's office who receives $28,579.
This employee uses his personal vehicle for county business while viewing property to be assessed, and is responsible for his own expenses on the vehicle   that surpass the rate for mileage, 47 cents per mile.
Employees of the mayor's office receive pay for extra duties in working with grants.
While County Mayor Mike Foster voiced his preference for a job classification system, other elected officials expressed a desire to begin a step-increase plan based on years of service this year, and table the job classification discussion until an independent study can be done on the matter.
The budget committee members took no action Tuesday, but they must eventually to make some recommendation to the county commission on the matter.
Foster shared a sizeable list of duties his staff is responsible for before telling the assembly that it is problematic that employees of the mayor’s office are paid much less than others in similar jobs, including employees of the board of education central office and workers in other counties who are classified by job titles.
“Since I've been here the job has grown and grown and I still have two people (working in his office),” the mayor said. “When they look around across the street (at the board of education) and see somebody doing exactly the same job, who is not dealing with the landfill, the fire department, the billing, the grants and all the things we do, and who is making $12,000 a year more than they are, and they look at other counties who are making more, then it becomes a little problem.”
He said the disparity in pay was causing valued workers to look to greener pastures, but he did not want to give his employees a raise without all county offices being included in the process.
“If I lose one (employee) it'll take me six months to a year to get anybody doing that job,” Foster said. “That's where I am. I don't think I'm better, or that my girls are better, than anybody, but if I'm going to keep them I've got to pay them. There's a law that says I can pay my secretaries at whatever they (county commission) will approve. But that's not what I want to do. I have never wanted mine to get a raise and no one else to get one.”
County Clerk Mike Clayborn made it clear that he was against any job classification in his or any other office.
“We do seven different things, and I could make it look like 100, but those seven things are just to do with license plates,” Clayborn said. “They do 12 things that have nothing to do with license plates. People may say anyone can sell license plates, and if that's all they did that would be alright, but that's not all they do. I'm for the step raises but I'm against the classifications. I don't want classifications in my office. I don't want classifications in the other offices. I think they should all be the same.”
Register of Deeds Jeff McMillen said that while he has no opinion on matters concerning pay for other county agencies, he does not approve of the classification of one courthouse or county complex employee over another.
“I do think that we need to put a step increase in. I think it's a great idea,” McMillen said. “The way I look at it is if you're coming in the front door of my office, and you've got a deed in your hand, the most important person to the public is that person in the register's office. If you've got car tags in your hand, the most important person is in the clerk's office. If I put a classification on my girls they might look at each other and say ‘You're supposed to take care of this.’ When you come in the register's office, I want you taken care of as quickly as possible, and in the best manner that can be done. Again, I am not against the step increases. I think its great. I just don't want to have to put classifications on my employees. But what they do at the ambulance service or the landfill is none of my business.”
Trustee Sean Driver said his concern is that morale might suffer if job classifications are adopted.
“I am for the step-raise program out of fairness, but at this point, I am not for classification because of morale breakdown,” Driver said. “The only way I'd be for classification at this point is that if they were classified all the same in these government offices.”
“I'm against the classifications at this time, but I am for step raises,”  Clerk and Master Deborah Malone said.
Newly-elected Assessor of Property Scott Cantrell said that he needs more time to study the situation before forming a concrete opinion.
“I am for raises, Cantrell said. “I'm not for sure about classifications.”
Circuit Court Clerk Katherine Pack said she was also in favor of step raises, but needed more information on the matter of job classifications.
“What I would really love to do is implement the step raises and have an independent consultant do a survey or whatever they do and then get back and meet back together and see where we are then. But I am definitely for step raises,” Pack said.
The county budget for the year does not include any provisions for pay raises for county office employees.
The sheriff’s department implemented a four-tiered wage scale last year to bring salaries up to speed with other area law-enforcement agencies and help the sheriff retain employees.