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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > March > 03 > Entry
Butler County roundup - county pay and “common sense”
Two Butler County commission stories were in our paper today:
Deep pay cuts begin for county (read more here)
Butler County commissioners say many county employees are overpaid compared to their private-sector counterparts and they are taking the first steps to tighten the spigot at the public trough.
Two county employees took dramatic pay cuts Monday, March 2.
Rhonda Freeze, Records Center manager and also Trenton mayor, saw her salary reduced from $85,772 to $69,899 Monday. Laura Campbell, assistant human resources director, had her pay cut from $92,771 to $76,800.
According to county records, Freeze was making $62,638 when she became records center director in 2004. She was making $40,194 in 2000. Campbell was making $50,740 in 2000.
Commissioner Donald Dixon cited rapid-fire pay increases as the reason many county employees see their pay balloon. Campbell, for example, has seen 14 pay increases since 2000.
County employees generally get a 3 percent cost of living increase most years, an automatic step increase of up to 4 percent some years, and a probationary increase some years. The specifics vary in different departments with different union contracts.
“These are just the first ones, but we’re going to do all of them,” Dixon said. “(We will) do a comparison against the private sector and see how they stack up.”
County’s ‘common sense policy’ under review (read more here)
Butler County commissioners on Monday, March 2, questioned the common sense of a new Children Services policy that allows agency employees to ignore the rules if staff members determine they’re not in a child’s best interest.
Commissioner Charles Furmon said the rules are there for a reason, and leaving it up to employees which rules to follow “leaves the citizens of Butler County exposed to some degree.”
“It’s good to have common sense, but you have to pair it up with rules and regulations,” Furmon said. “If you drive across town once, you’ll see from the other drivers people don’t have much common sense,” he said. “I think you have to make sure you have the right regulations and policies in place. If you can’t handle it yourself, you talk to your supervisor or someone in the prosecutor’s office.”
Any thoughts on either of these?
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: County Commission
Comments
By Sandy Ghord
March 3, 2009 7:50 PM | Link to this
Josh: Why don’t you investigaate how a former Bank Teller with no education gets hired and promoted to an $82,000 dollar a year do nothing job? Please look into how whe could of been promoted so quicly and paid so much to be a records manager - whatever that is. It was obviously a political payoff.
By VietVet
March 3, 2009 9:15 PM | Link to this
Criminal behavior- giving these people the starting pay and the raises they received in such a short time on the job. Their immediate supervisor and those above, including the top positions responsible for this theft of taxpayer money, need to be fired immediately. Time to audit each department for raises given/money spent and change the system, fire the deadwood and eliminate this and other taxpayer money theft in the government buildings in Butler County.If the county commissioners knew about this, kick ‘em out of office and blacklist them in this county. Why did we pay these people two times what their job was worth?
By null
March 3, 2009 9:59 PM | Link to this
Amazing that Freeze is still making almost $70,000 to supervise 3 employees!
By Unfortunate, But Long Overdue
March 3, 2009 10:41 PM | Link to this
It’s too bad that leaders at the state and public schools level are not taking their fiduciary responsibilities as seriously as they’re finally being taken here now. Thanks for turning up the heat to fix it Dixon. Next stop, the county’s retirement program and funding. And, with any luck, this county’s citizenry will finally rightly reward your peers at the polls for their inaction by giving them the boot.
By Randy
March 4, 2009 10:10 AM | Link to this
On Thursday the Commissioners voted pay raises for several employees and hide behind a union contract. On Monday they come back and single out two employees for large pay cuts. Do what’s fair commissioners, cut across the board and demand unions give up some money also. Stop singling out employees two to five at a time for pay cuts. An yes Commissioenr Dixon, that would include the Board of Elections.
By Biarhopper
March 5, 2009 2:43 PM | Link to this
I heard sometime ago that Don Dixon had said he wanted any and all Kentuckians who worked for the county off the payroll. I know the EMA director was from Ky and wonder if either of these ladies are also. How about the others that have been fired. I also agree that the Board of Elections seems to be getting a free ride through the cuts and layoffs. What do they do work two days a year????