Carbon County sets 2025 pay schedules; average raise recorded as 3%

The Carbon County Board of Commissioners, sitting as the county salary board, voted Jan. 2, 2025, to set position classifications and salary schedules effective Jan. 1, 2025, for county offices and multiple bargaining units, and approved routine payroll and county business.

The action covered judiciary offices, row offices and county departments and applied across bargaining units including AFSCME and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Association Union. The meeting record notes an average wage increase of 3% across employees; specific salary steps and classifications were adopted as listed in supporting exhibits referenced at the meeting.

Most formal motions were approved by voice or roll call with all commissioners recorded as voting in favor. Motions included setting salary schedules for the courts (referenced exhibits J1–J6), a specific hourly-rate change for a director-of-computer-systems position, and the adoption of pay schedules for bargaining units and individual offices including clerk of courts, controller, coroner, district attorney, public defender, recorder of deeds, register of wills, prothonotary, sheriff’s office, and the treasurer’s office. The meeting also approved a payroll run dated Dec. 27, 2024, and routine contracts listed on the agenda.

Key details recorded in the meeting minutes include: - Courts: The salary schedule for court offices was approved as presented, with an overall 3% increase applied to listed positions effective Jan. 1, 2025 (exhibits J1–J6). - Position rate change: A motion changed the hourly rate for a director/computer-systems position from $26.46 per hour (grade S-10, step B) to $29.18 per hour (grade S-12, step B), effective Jan. 1, 2025. - Bargaining units: Positions and salaries covered by multiple bargaining units (identified in the record as AFSCME and others including court-related professional and nonprofessional employee unions and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Association Union) were set as listed in the referenced exhibits, effective Jan. 1, 2025. - Sheriff’s office: The board approved the sheriff’s office salary schedule and bargaining-unit pay scales. The board approved establishing one part-time security officer position and later amended the rate to $15.27 per hour (grade 3, step B), effective Jan. 1, 2025, and approved abolishing one part-time special deputy sheriff position that had been paid at $20.49 per hour (grade 8, step D), effective Jan. 1, 2025. - Payroll and expenditures: The commissioners approved payroll checks numbered 76356 through 76376 and direct-deposit payroll transactions 6071818 through 6072303 covering county funds and totaling $1,013,269.34 (payroll dated Dec. 27, 2024). - Routine business: The agenda included approval and execution authority for a lease agreement with the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau (item 25-002) and a purchase-of-service agreement with the County of Northampton for children and youth services (item 25001); both were recorded for approval.

The minutes and motions refer repeatedly to supporting exhibits (for example, exhibits labeled A, B, C, E, J1–J6, R1–R10) for the precise listings of positions, grades and step increases. The meeting record does not print the full exhibit tables in the audio transcription; the board voted to adopt the schedules “as listed” on those exhibits.

The board thanked row-office staff for participation in the budget process and noted constraints discussed during budget deliberations. The meeting record states that the average increase across employees is 3% and that one union’s adjustment reflected special contract timing at a correctional facility; the record does not provide additional budgetary breakdowns in the audible transcript.

Votes at a glance: All motions to set position classifications and salary schedules discussed in the salary-board portion of the meeting were recorded as approved by the commissioners present. Specific outcomes referenced in the meeting record include the amended part-time security officer hourly rate (approved) and the abolition of one part-time special deputy position (approved). The payroll approval for Dec. 27, 2024, was approved as presented.

The salary-board portion of the session adjourned and the commissioners moved to the regular commissioners’ agenda, where the board introduced Lexi Merkel as a constituent service representative for Congressman Ryan McKenzie and recorded additional routine business items.