Fayette County employees got their first cost-of-living increase in seven years during the most recent fiscal year, which ended June 30.
They will not get one this year.
That was the main sticking point during the Board of Commissioners’ discussion leading up to approval of the FY2016 budget after the final public hearing, which took place at the June 25 regular board meeting.
A motion by Commissioner David Barlow to pass the first of three budget options, one that included a 2-percent COLA as well as a one-time 2-percent payment to employees during the second half of the fiscal year, was supported by Chairman Charles Oddo but failed to pass after a 2-2 vote.
Commissioner Pota Coston was not present at the meeting because of ongoing health issues.
Barlow made another motion, without the COLA but moving the one-time payment up to now, that was seconded by Oddo but also died after a 2-2 vote.
Finally, Commissioner Steve Brown moved to adopt the third budget option as presented — with no COLA and the one-time payment during the second half of the fiscal year. Commissioner Randy Ognio seconded, and the vote was 4-0 as Oddo remarked, “We need a budget.”
Barlow was the most vocal, both during the budget discussion and his own regular comment period later in the meeting, about giving the employees this pay boost. He stressed a need to “invest in our people” and avoid seeing them go elsewhere after the county has invested in their training and other support, a point that Oddo also supported.
Brown and Ognio were steadfast in their opposition to the COLA, with Ognio noting that such increases typically become automatic every year in municipal governments while the public sector rarely, if ever, provides such a benefit.
County officials presented three budget options to the board based upon feedback received before the final hearing.
Option 1 set the total budget at $94,244,167. It allowed a 2-percent COLA to county employees in good standing effective July 1, and also funded a 2-percent one-time payment to county employees in good standing to be paid in the second half of the fiscal year conditioned on positive budget performance.
Option 2 had a final budget total was $94,213,373. In this case, the 2-percent COLA was redirected to vehicle/equipment replacement while the one-time payment stayed the same.
Option 3, which was ultimately approved, was the lowest total of all: $93,595,728. It eliminated the COLA and kept the one-time payment the same.
Officials pointed out during the presentation that employees received no COLA for six straight years until a 2-percent increase was approved in the budget for the 2015 fiscal year, which has just ended. The one-time incentive pay of 2 percent was approved for each of the past two fiscal years.
Barlow made the initial motion and then started his comments with a quote from Myles Munroe: “True leaders don’t invest in buildings. Jesus never built a building. They invest in people.”
“Our people deserve what we’ve got in Option 1,” he said, talking about employees who have stayed with the county when they could have gone elsewhere simply because they love what they do and they love Fayette County.
“Let me tell all of the employees this,” he said. “I love what you do for Fayette County, and I committed to serve Fayette County when I became a commissioner, and I intend to do that. I applaud you all for what you do.”
Oddo remarked that he is “on both sides of the fence” as a small business owner as well as being in government, then pointed out that there is more to the employee issue than just the financial aspect.
The staff “has been very understanding” during the recent economic downturn, Oddo said. “Everybody stepped up and did their jobs.”
The chairman said that since a pay study has not been done, he is not certain the county has a proper grasp on where everyone should be salary-wise.
“But I don’t think we need to be falling behind,” he said. “We have lost some employees, and if we start losing them in large numbers we have to look at the training that goes into getting someone new and how efficiency goes down.”
Oddo noted what he considers a big difference between the public and private sectors. “In a private enterprise, the employees serve the business. In government, the employees serve all of the citizens.”
While he is not in favor of a COLA every single year, Oddo said he supports it this year especially since the budget is balanced and will actually add a few hundred thousand dollars to the reserves.
Ognio mentioned another benefit the county’s employees are receiving in that the county is absorbing some of their increase in health insurance premiums this year. He said that the COLA along with the one-time payment add up to “a chunk of money.”
Brown said that during the six years the employees received no COLA, the county was in the midst of a “massive recession.”
“I don’t know of a single company that gave COLAs during that time,” said Brown. “Millions of people lost their jobs.”
When Barlow made his second motion, Brown said he was not in favor of accelerating the one-time payment, noting that paying it at the beginning of the fiscal year negates the idea of paying it out conditioned on positive budget performance. Oddo countered that paying it now would make up for the lack of the COLA in some respects.
When the second motion failed to pass, Barlow said, “We’ve got to have a budget.” Brown immediately made the motion that ultimately passed, and Oddo repeated Barlow’s comment as the budget vote passed 4-0.
