Several county office managers asked the Neosho County Commission on Wednesday to consider targeted pay adjustments and follow-through on a long-discussed wage study to reduce pay compression across courthouse offices.

Speaker 2, a county office representative, said her office submitted a comparison chart showing pay for comparable positions and asked for raises so “those girls” could be “caught up to do what everybody else is making.” She said she had not realized a recent $2-an-hour raise applied countywide and that her staff missed that increase because she missed prior meetings.

The request echoed across other offices. Speaker 5, an administrative office representative, said she adjusted commodities and contractual lines but wants base pay “brought up to the rest of the courthouse standards” by experience and position. Several presenters asked the commission to consider the broader wage-study and step increase long discussed by commissioners.

Commissioners and staff did not adopt any changes during the session; they heard department-level budget requests and signaled they will consider wage and step adjustments as part of the formal budget process. Speakers repeatedly framed the issue as a retention and equity problem, noting that some workers are moving to other county departments or outside employers for higher pay.

Clarifying details presented during the meeting included a previously enacted $2-an-hour across-the-board raise (referenced by presenters), office-level comparison charts provided to the commission, and that some offices propose modest net personal-service reductions after moving funds among line items to cover pay increases.

The commission left decisions about countywide step increases and wage-study implementation for later budget sessions and possible future amendments to the proposed budgets.