County extends wage freeze

Whitman County commissioners Monday extended a freeze on raises for county employees until the end of the year. The freeze was instituted in January, but slated at the time to expire after six months.

“Because of the economic downturn in the entire country, including Whitman County, we had to make some adjustments early in the year, and we felt classification freezes was a good way to cut costs,” said Commissioner Pat O’Neill.

Commissioners made the decision to try and make up a projected deficit in the county’s year-end bottom line.

“It’s one of the little things we can do to try and hold our budget down,” said Commissioner Partch.

Raises are given based on an employee’s job title in the county’s classification system. Reclassifications are made at the discretion of the directors of county departments. The freeze means employees can only be reclassified with special approval from county commissioners.

The collective bargaining contract between the county and courthouse employees expires at the end of the year. Both O’Neill and Partch said they hoped they can address pay issues then, but did not see a way to do it without more revenue.

“These people do have legitimate requests, but at this point we just have to wait and see,” said Partch.