A part-time employee in the Pulaski County Maintenance Department will continue to make $15 an hour and won’t have to pay back a $2-per-hour raise. That was the consensus reached by the county council Monday, although no formal action was taken.
Three part-time maintenance employees had been promised a pay raise after working for 630 hours, with the apparent blessing of the council. But only two of them ended up getting the raises. Due to confusion over whether or not those were actually approved by the county council, Auditor Laura Wheeler then reversed the raises and asked the employees to give the money back.
During Monday’s meeting, Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston explained that one of those employees has since been let go. “So what I’m asking for is my one employee to maintain his current pay level, and my other employee, who should’ve went to $15, to go ahead and go to $15,” Johnston explained.
Council member Ken Boswell made a motion to keep the one employee’s pay level at $15 an hour and not require him to pay back the difference. Boswell felt that would clear up any future questions that may be raised by the State Board of Accounts.
In the end, though, council members decided that no action was necessary. They felt the issue was addressed in the Salary Matrix Rules they approved last month. “We passed this resolution,” said council member Tom Roth. “It says right there on the last page, ‘Grandfathered Pay.’ Why do we need to vote on this two nights? It’s been done!”
Council President Jay Sullivan responded, “Okay, so we’re done. You’re taken care of, Jeff. My bad.”
As for third maintenance employee who never got his promised pay raise, he’ll have to settle for a pay rate of $14 an hour, as specified by the new Matrix Rules. Council members were concerned that bumping him up to $15 an hour would require an amendment to the salary ordinance.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Jeff Richwine pointed out that other county employees have had to pay money back, including one of his staff members who was inadvertently overpaid. “I know with the state, if they overpaid you, they weren’t as generous as you folks are being, as far as saying, ‘You don’t have to pay that back.’ They said, ‘You pay that back and we’re taking it in the next check, and it’s a done deal,’” Richwine said. “So I don’t know where that puts my employee, as far as her being treated fairly.”
The difference is that situation had to do with an error in the application of the salary matrix, rather than confusion over the intentions of the county council.
