The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has already started showing a little Christmas spirit even though Christmas is still a month away and there’s a pandemic going on.
The board recently handed out raises to the county employees who report to the board, and those raises will go into effect in mid-January, One county director – Guilford County Elections Director Charlie Collicutt was not awarded a raise in this round of raises – even though he was scheduled to get one at this time of year. In that case, the very busy Board of Elections had not yet had time to make a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners regarding Collicutt’s salary – however, he should know the amount of his raise soon after the commissioners get that recommendation.
On Thursday, Nov. 19, after a closed session at the end of a Board of Commissioners meeting, the board came out into a nearly empty meeting room and announced raises for the employees that the board directly oversees. Most of the county’s more than two dozen department heads are overseen by Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing, but the directors that work directly for the Board of Commissioners or are elected officials are awarded raises by the commissioners each year.
The discussions leading to the raises were held in closed session; job performance reviews are a legally protected as exemptions to the state’s open public meeting laws.
County staff said that this year board relied heavily on software that measures employee performance against pre-selected objective goals and then generates a suggested raise that’s meant to help guide the board in its decision.
Here are the county employees who will now have a little extra money in their pockets going forward.
- Guilford County Clerk to the Board Robin Keller got a 3.6 percent raise, for a new salary of $92,683 annually.
- Guilford County Attorney Mark Payne got 2.5 percent raise, making his new salary $185,898 a year.
- Guilford County Tax Director Ben Chavis got a 3.5 percent raise, bringing his yearly total to $137,965
- Sheriff Danny Rogers got a 3 percent raise, which makes his annual salary now $167,908.
- Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen is now at $133,516 a year after his 3 percent raise.
- And last, but certainly not least, County Manager Marty Lawing was given a 2.8 percent raise, making his new annual salary $226,121.
And we are surprised by this why?
Property taxes won’t go up, Skip says.
But then where is this money for the raises coming from?
If it doesn’t make sense, someone’s lying. Politics and liars. Go together like pb and j.
Did you know, that most County Employees cannot get raises at the percentages of some of those listed above? That Supervisors are instructed, when reviewing employees, that there is no such thing as an employee grading out at the highest score, and getting a max percentage score. So most employees can only dream of getting anything close to a 3% raise. Plus, Guilford County Employees have to wait until sometime in January before they see their pay increase
Also, Mr Honest, most Guilford County Employees have worked in county offices throughout the pandemic, an issue that does not factor in on their annual review. Even before the pandemic, if someone questioned limited pay increases, they usually got “Be happy you have a job” as a response from higher ups
More of us no longer have jobs. Those that do are hanging on to part-time, and/or stagnant wages. Thems that tell us if we can work, how we can work, when we can work, if we can work, ad nauseum; gets their goodies from us. Where do I sign up? I gotta get on.
That’s is amazing when they will not give the county workers who does the work above a 2% if any. If the workers who will be facing the public again once the offices are reopen; when given above a 3 your evaluation is returned and must be reduced to less then a 3. Also being told that the 3 year adjustments to make pay between employees doing the same job will not happen for the second year of the adjustments but upper management continue to get better pay raises then those who make a lot less and are more likely effective with what is going on with the pandemic. Really Guilford County you let you worker know they are not appreciate at all.
This has been the method for over 40 years and will continue. The maxing out at their pay grade, not giving more than 2% increases, not giving the highest grade on their evaluations so they don’t have to give a higher percentage raise, being told “you’re lucky you have a job”, making employees worry at least 6 months out of each year that their job will be cut in the next budget, knowing upper management will always get their pay raise as will the commissioners, it’s the way the County does business. They won’t be honest with the citizens and tell them if they want the services demanded they need to pay higher taxes because the County is serving more people than they were 10 and 30 years ago. They need to tell the citizens that a lot of those people don’t pay property taxes because they don’t actually live in Guilford County but commute here daily, use the services, then go home to other counties. They need to change the employment levels, the pay levels and find more ways to incentivize employees. The one thing employees do have going for them is a great medical healthcare plan, but their retirement plan has also been cut badly in recent years. It’s becoming more difficult to hold on to people long-term and that will not be good for the County in the future.
I’m so confused on how they can get such percentages??? Employees are told they cannot receive a 4 on their evaluations. The % has never been a 3 in most departments thanks to the socialist way of giving increases. (Everyone’s is added together and divided) No more longevity- check, higher health insurance- check… and they wonder why such high turnovers in many positions. There is no longer a real benefit of working with the county. Many departments are still seeing clients daily. (Yes, they are thankful for a job)Show some appreciation GC!
I have received two “4”s on evaluations so the above is not true. I know others who have as well.
S ame
S tuff
D ifferent
Y ear
More to the point:
S ame
Old
S**t
At a time when the general public is just trying to make ends meet due to layoffs and limited work hours caused by the pandemic, this increase in the salary of the highest paid personnel is an insult. Instead of a pay increase, all “non-essential” personnel, i.e, anyone above a six figure annual salary, should receive a pay reduction. How can you be in a position of such importance and accept these pay increases, then look your staff in the face. It is time that high paid government employees are not automatically given big pay increases each year. You pay the workforce first, and then the top echelon.