By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Levy County Commissioners Tuesday refused to rescind a 3 percent pay raise they had given County Attorney Anne Bast Brown two weeks earlier.
The request to reverse the decision came from Spotlight Founder Linda Cooper who pointed out that Brown had given the board inaccurate information about the financial impact of her raise on the county budget.
In her agenda packet request, Brown said the total impact of her raise on the county budget would be $4,000, but Cooper said the real impact was $5,052.15 when retirement contributions and insurance costs were factored in.
“That was a false and dishonest statement,” Cooper said.
Brown’s total salary and benefits package is now $182,860, a bargain when compared to what other in-house attorneys in the state earn, according to outgoing Board Chairman Matt Brooks.
Brown’s presentation to the board regarding her raise revealed a little known fact about how Levy County government gives away union raises to department heads that aren’t represented by the union.
For many years, commissioners have accepted the practice of giving top paid Levy County Commission department supervisors the same pay raises after road department laborers negotiate a collective bargaining contract for higher salaries and benefits. The unwritten policy was hidden from public view until the first week of December when Brown revealed the practice as part of her presentation to commissioners concerning her raise.
Her base salary has grown by $41,000 since the date of her hiring in 2004. She has received 11 raises related to contracts negotiated by Laborers International Union of North America Chapter 630. The union represents the Levy County Road Department and its bargaining unit. Department heads get the same raises as the union workers.
The county acknowledged it has no written policy authorizing department heads and other non-union employees to get the union raises. Without a written policy concerning the raises, there is no paper trail for the public to follow.
On Tuesday, Brooks announced he had spoken to County Coordinator Wilbur Dean and Human Resource Director Jacqueline Martin about crafting a written policy outlining the practice of giving union-related pay raises to employees like Brown who aren’t represented by the union.
His announcement followed the presentation by Cooper.
Dean confirmed he is working on a draft of a written policy.
“What we’ve looked at is making sure we make official the accepted practice that’s been going on for years. When we approved a contract with different labor unions we always applied those to department heads and staff like that, not anything different or special except what the rank and file does get,” Dean said. “It’s been the accepted practice for many, many years back. In fact, we haven’t even determined how far back it goes. What we’re looking at now is putting that in a written policy so that it’s something the board has documented that these are the steps the board has taken.”
The union-related raises create a financial impact on the county commission budget but since the board has never documented that the raises actually exist, the impact is unknown.
The typical county budget process for the commission starts around May and ends in late September with the adoption of the spending plan. Department heads like Brown submit their budgets to the county commission office and budget office for review.
Commissioner John Meeks argued that Brown’s raise wasn’t handled improperly outside the regular budget process because money won’t be added to her approved budget. Meeks said Brown has money in her budget to pay for the raise and no amendment to the county budget is needed.
Brown hasn’t identified where she will find money in her budget to fund her 3 percent pay raise, or why the pay raise was never publicly discussed during the budget process that ended in September, or why there wasn’t money specifically designated in her budget for the raise.
She said she waited until December to ask for the raise because she wanted to make sure all the commissioners had time to evaluate her work performance as required by her contract.
Meeks said Brown followed the usual process for constructing her department budget. When she submitted her spending plan, the county commission gave her the money to run her department. She decided how to spend it.
“She asked for money during the budget process. How she spends that money within her department is no different than how Mr. (Jimmy) Jones spends money in his department, how Mr. (Mitch) Harrell spends money in his department or, how any department head has the right to spend money in their department,” Meeks said.
It has been suggested by one county official that department heads have the discretion to shift money around in their budgets as they see fit. The official suggested Brown would do the same but he wasn’t sure what source of money she would use to fund her pay raise.
Meeks was asked if the pay raise increased her departmental budget.
“It does not add money to her budget,” he said.
He said her contract allows for the raise.
It was pointed out to Meeks that her contract makes no mention of getting union raises.
Meeks said the practice has been done for many years. He said it started before his time on the board. He said it is a policy of the board.
A reporter pointed out that there is no written policy authorizing non-union department heads to receive union raises.
“It’s an accepted practice that becomes policy after a time,” Meeks responded.
Meeks attempted to say that Brown never claimed her 3 percent raise was worth $4,000. Meeks said he and Brooks had used that number when they were discussing Brown’s request for a raise, but Brown didn’t use it.
A reporter pointed out that Brown used the $4,000 number in her agenda packet asking for the raise. Brown confirmed this fact.
“It was in the agenda packet. It was related to the increase in base salary,” Brown said.
Brooks defended the increase in Brown’s pay.
“You’d be hard pressed to find an attorney who would work for $61.79 per hour (like Brown) in the private industry,” Brooks said. “We’re still getting a bargain.”
Meeks was asked if he gives his employees at Bronson Ace Hardware raises based on merit or if he does it the same way as the county commission gives raises– if one person gets a raise, everyone gets a raise.
“Do you base it on individual merit?” a reporter asked.
“If I had a union they would all get a raise at the same time. I don’t have a union,” Meeks said. “Raises are given annually and the percentage of raise is based on merit. Yes, everyone gets a raise every year on their anniversary. How much it is, is based on their performance over the last calendar year.”
What’s wrong with doing that for county department heads – basing the raises on merit and performance? Meeks was asked.
“As Commissioner Rooks stated, it would be very difficult to do and be fair because at the end of the day, whoever went first would get the short end of the stick,” Meeks responded.
He recalled times when the county commission allocated funds to the various city fire departments in the county in a board meeting. He said the tendency of the board was to be stingy with the first fire departments that come forward for an increase and to be more generous at the end of the day when the final fire departments came forward and there was money left over.
“I’m afraid that’s what it would turn into for department heads,” he said.
John Meeks will take over as county commission chairman in January. Commissioner Mike Joyner will be vice chairman.
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Board of County Commission Regular Meeting December 22, 2020; Posted December 23, 2020
