All but two Cowley County employees will receive a three percent wage adjustment as a result of a wage study initiated by the County Commission.
The adjustments were included in the $19.7 million 2008 budget approved by the County Commission following a public hearing Tuesday night.
The commission wanted to keep the mill levy increase under two mills, despite the requests from various agencies for additional monies. When the final numbers were calculated, a 1.972 mill increase is what taxpayers wound up with.
“Given the situation, they treated everybody as good as they could,” said County Administrator Leroy Alsup.
The wage study conducted by Alsup found employees earn substantially less money than employees in the nine other public entities reviewed.
The commission would have had to come up with $700,000 just to pay the median wage being paid by the other counties, he said.
“They couldn’t afford to do that,” Alsup said.
The commission settled on the three percent wage adjustment and a two percent cost of living increase. Some employees will also receive a step increase if they haven’t reached the top of their salary range.
The county has approximately 170 employees.
