Archivist requests pay increase after 14 years; archives budget tentatively approved

The Houston County Commission gave tentative approval to the archives budget after the county archivist asked for a one-year pay increase, saying she has been the county archivist for 14 years and is paid below the industry starting salary.

The archivist said a beginning archivist industry standard is roughly $40,000–$45,000 and asked that her pay be raised to that level for one year. She described her work as a department head responsible for records management, public records requests, and archives operations, noting increased request volumes in recent years.

The archivist also outlined the archives fee: a $5 archival fee attached to court cases and titles collected through the clerk’s office. She said the county expects to generate about $15,000 from that fee in the current budget year and that the fee revenue is applied directly to the archives budget, reducing the county’s net cost.

On other budget items, the archivist requested modest increases for professional memberships (Society of Tennessee Archivists and Society of American Archivists) and a small increase for disposal/shredding fees tied to a countywide contract with Shred It. The archivist said she placed the salary request on the agenda again after several previous annual requests and asked commissioners to evaluate director salaries later in the budget process.

Commissioners moved and seconded a motion to tentatively approve the archives budget and to revisit director salaries; the motion carried by voice vote with commissioners announcing approval in the meeting. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally.