Last year, based on the periodic wage survey of the market, the commissioners deviated from the traditional two-part merit pay plan, increasing the minimum pay ranges for all non-union employees and giving a 5% raise for those who were below the maximum for their pay range. The cost was roughly $650,000 for non-union employees.
The unions that renegotiated their deals also got the 5% boost.
A decade ago, the commissioners adopted a two-part performance pay plan which allocates a pool of money equal to 2% of the total payroll for eligible employees. This year, that amounts to $452,767.
The plan calls for pay hikes up to 3% added to an employee’s base pay and another 3% available in lump sum payments.
County Administrator Judi Boyko said only 37.4% of the raise money comes from the general fund and the rest is supported with special revenue sources such as Water and Sewer fees, state and federal funding and the Children Services levy. The average raise amount was 2% and only three people received the maximum 3%.
“If the majority of the raises are within that sweet spot of 2% even though we’re allowing for 1-3, it means the departments are really looking at each one of these with discretion,” Boyko told the Journal-News. “They’re really evaluating truly on merit.”
The idea for the two-part plan — that lessens the compounding effect of straight percentage raises — was they could be flexible if finances turn sour. The commissioners embarked on a pay policy overhaul after the Great Recession when about 500 county employees were laid off. Double-digit raises and multiple pay hikes in a year were once the norm in the county.
The commissioners can’t force other elected officials to use the merit pay program. Boyko said the auditor, Probate Court, prosecutor, recorder and treasurer — a couple are giving market-based wage adjustments for some positions so those could be higher — are adhering to the commissioners’ merit plan. The rest of the elected officials are planning higher pay increases.
The county is also presently under a hiring freeze because of uncertainty in the economy and country as a whole. Commissioner Don Dixon told the Journal-News he is hoping they won’t have to make a mid-year adjustment to salaries — they did that in 2022 because the county was losing employees at an alarming rate due to uncompetitive salaries.
“We’ll have to play those cards as they come,” he said.
“It appears prices are higher now than they’ve been in a long time, and there’s no rhyme or reason or understanding when it’s going to come back down, there’s so much global unrest,” Dixon said. “It’s one of those things you used to be able to forecast and say this is what we’re going to do and this is how it’ll work out. In today’s world I’m not sure we’re able to do that. Everybody understands we’re trying to get back to the two-and-two but we also have to stay competitive.”
Boyko is the highest paid county employee with an annual salary of $220,000. Generally she receives her performance reviews and raises apart from the rest of the staff, but Dixon said they haven’t done that yet.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers called the raises “prudent.”
“Based upon my relationships with other similar government entities, we operate our staff lean,” he said.
The state legislature determines how much elected officials are paid, and they approved 5% pay hikes — in each of the next four years — in the biennial budget last year. However, since the state constitution prohibits an elected official — other than judges — from getting a pay raise mid-term, most of the officials won’t see the new money until 2029 if they are reelected.
They will receive the previously approved 1.75% cost-of-living increases.
Whomever wins the May 5 primary race for county commissioner and county auditor will receive the pay increases next year. That means County Auditor Nancy Nix’s salary — she is currently running unopposed — will jump to $144,997, according to the County Commissioners Association of Ohio advisory bulletin.
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter has two challengers on the May 5 ballot, former county auditor Roger Reynolds and former Hamilton councilman Michael Ryan. The person elected will be making $112,502 when they take office in 2027, according to the CCAO wage increase calculations.
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