County May Offer Employees Major Pay Increases

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Employees of the Levy County Commission may get pay raises totaling $5 per hour by 2023.

The increases are similar to what paramedics and EMTs, who also work for the Levy County Commission, received earlier this year when the county gave them a total of $5 per hour by 2023.

Commissioners made no firm decision on the latest round of salary increases discussed on Tuesday but indicated they were going to informally contact leaders of Laborers International of North America Local 630 (LIUNA) to see what they think of the raises.

LIUNA represents Levy County Road Department employees as well as the bargaining unit that includes all the county employees outside of paramedics and EMTs.

Paramedics and EMTs are represented by the International Association of Firefighters local 4069. Their two-year contract has been signed and approved and the first phase of their raises, $4 per hour, is in effect. They will receive an additional $1 per hour on Oct. 1, 2023.

The board listened to a two-hour presentation by Jared Blanton, financial director for the clerk’s office and budget director for the county commission, who discussed wage inflation, as well price inflation at the gas pump and grocery stores and just about everywhere else, and how it is impacting the national economy and wages. He gave the board options for increasing wages.

Blanton also mentioned Florida’s voters approved a ballot measure in 2020 that gradually increases the minimum wage to $15 by 2026. The county commission, like all private and public employers, is required by law to implement the minimum wage.

The constitutional amendment was at least part of the reason for wage inflation around the state and wage bidding wars for employees in local governments.

Citrus County’s decision to switch from a private ambulance service to a government-owned EMS resulted in huge pay offers to any paramedic or EMT that would go to work in Citrus. Citrus County’s pay offers caused a rippled effect, forcing neighboring counties, including Levy and Dixie, to adjust their pay scales upward or lose employees.

Part of Blanton’s presentation to the board was what he called a hybrid raise that was a mix of flat hourly pay increases alternating with percentage increases over two years.

One of his charts showed three examples of how the hybrid raises would result in a total of $5 increases in pay over two years.

An $11 per hour employee working for the county in 2022 would see their hourly pay shoot up to $14 per hour this October and to $16 in October of 2023.

An $18 per hour employee would see their hourly wage increase to $21 this October and $23 in October of 2023.

A $25 per hour employee would see an increase to $28.8 this October and $31.2 in October of 2023, which would actually be a $6 per hour raise.

Commissioner John Meeks said the hybrid option was his favorite. His fellow board members didn’t disagree.

“I think that accomplishes what you said it would. It brings the people at the bottom up but it doesn’t cause that compression in the middle and no employee is going to feel like they are being mistreated as in the past,” Meeks said.

One of the worries about the minimum wage increases passed by Florida voters is the potential to move lower-paid employees closer to higher-paid employees in the middle, which is known as wage compression. The hybrid proposal avoids compression by giving all employees about the same level of pay increase.

Meeks asked County Coordinator Wilbur Dean if he could carry the message to the bargaining unit and stress that the proposal is intended to be fair and equitable and allows employees to take a look at the proposal without being pressured in any way.

He asked his fellow board members if this is something the board should pursue, keeping in mind the LIUNA contract expires on Oct. 1. He heard no opposition.

“The quicker we can get on with this the quicker we can clear up going into the budget session,” Meeks said. “That way we’re not sitting and talking what if’s; what if they do this, what if they do that; the incentive being if we can get an agreement implemented early, how much would that upset the apple cart?”

Traditionally, Meeks said constitutional elected officials – the sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser, and clerk watch the county’s budget process and follow suit. The sheriff’s office employees are represented by a police union. The other constitutional offices aren’t unionized.

“It gets us in front of things when we’re working on the budget in June and July,” Meeks said. “The carrot is we implement it as soon as possible rather than waiting until October.”

Dean said he would contact union officials with the game plan and explain what the board wants to offer LIUNA employees.

The cost of the pay raises will be shouldered by taxpayers.