Commissioners consider pay-grade changes to raise low-end salaries; estimated $51,300 impact

Freestone County commissioners spent the bulk of their agenda item 18 reviewing a proposed adjustment to the county pay scale intended to raise lower-end salaries. Staff presented a plan that would raise many grades by $2,000 — for example, moving grade 1 from $31,200 to $33,200 and grade 2 from $33,200 to $35,200 — and showed how that change would affect specific positions (dispatchers, JP clerks and other single-clerk offices). Commissioners discussed fairness between offices with long-tenured workers and those that are single-staffed and stressed a phased approach to avoid a sudden budget shock.

Staff and commissioners walked through counts and costs: an initial calculation using 18 active employees put the incremental cost of the $2,000 bump at about $42,000 including FICA, Medicare and retirement; expanding to include additional positions produced an estimate near $51,300 (staff stated that includes benefits). Staff enumerated 21 positions that would be affected across grades one through four and explained one position in grade three would receive a $2,200 increase instead of $2,000 to align base pay.

Commissioners raised policy options to address inequities over time, including revising longevity payments to reward long service and avoid unintended pay inversion. One commissioner argued the county should aim to offer "$20 an hour jobs" as a regional benchmark, and another offered to reallocate personal pay increases in an attempt to bring an individual employee’s salary closer to a $40,000 target for that position. A commissioner made a motion to adopt the pay-grade adjustments and it was seconded; staff asked for time to produce updated payroll prints, and the court recessed for lunch to review revised numbers before taking a recorded vote.