County’s non-union employees will not get 2010 pay raise

Whitman County’s 67 non-union employees will receive no raises next year, nor will the county contribute more to their health insurance premiums.

“We’re actually on the negative side of the cost of living for 2010,” said Commissioner Greg Partch. Commissioners last week decided not to give those employees raises, to keep the county’s contribution to medical insurance at the 2009 level of $653 per month and to extend the freeze pay hikes normally allowed for job reclassifications and longevity.

Commissioners said they will revisit the pay and benefit freezes once collective bargaining contracts are signed with union employees.

Teamsters representative Steve Bruchmann was in Colfax Tuesday to negotiate contracts for next year.

Bruchmann was hesitant to show the union’s bargaining hand, but said the county has long ignored the salaries of its employees, and current hardships do not necessarily justify a freeze on salaries.

“The employees stepped up to the plate in a real big way prior to this recession,” he said.

He said the county has built up a large surplus of cash by holding the line on employee pay.

“Without the sacrifices of the employees of this county, there would be no surplus,” he said. Bruchmann also pointed to raises given to elected officials, saying it was “patently unfair” that they have received double-digit pay raises while rank and file employees have seen their take-home pay decrease.

Salaries of the county’s elected officials are set by the county’s citizen salary commission.

“The chronology of the increases in pay to elected officials versus the rank and file employees tells the true story,” he said.

Two years ago, the commission increased those salaries by as much as 22 percent to bring the salaries of Whitman County’s elected officials in line with comparable counties.

In 2008, the salary commission gave elected officials the same 2.5 percent raise that employees received.

In June, the commission decided to keep elected officials’ salaries at 2009 levels. Elected officials will also have their health insurance frozen at $653 per month.