Commission eyes county salary plan

While it has often been asserted that county workers are underpaid, especially in certain positions, there has never before been a document showing the figures in black and white.

However, after the culmination of a salary study by All American Associates of Mount Airy, those figures are now available. The process started in February.

Ron Niland of All American presented the plan to the commission on Monday evening. "One of the problems the county has experienced is losing employees to local business or neighboring counties," he said. "It was evident that jobs requiring training and professional skills were areas where the county was seeing the problem of retaining trained personnel. This trend will continue if the county does not become more competitive with wages in the immediate area."

According to data from the study, county workers, on average, are underpaid by almost 8 percent. Some individual workers and positions are underpaid by as much as almost 30 percent.

If the county chooses to implement the suggested pay rates, the cost of salaries alone would be about $195,000. With additional benefit costs, such as retirement and insurance, that figure would likely rise to well over $200,000.

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