There was a good deal of surprise when the new Guilford County budget came out this week with 50 percent raises for the county commissioners.
However, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said after the budget was adopted that the raises for himself and fellow commissioners were perfectly justified and have been a long time coming.
The move wasn’t discussed publicly by the board before it was approved as part of the new 2021-2022 county budget. The increase in commissioner salaries added $10,000 a year, which means that, starting in July, commissioners will each make $31,200 annually, with the chair and vice chair making a slightly larger amount for occupying those leadership positions.
Alston said after the Thursday, June 17 meeting at which the board unanimously approved the new county budget, that he was aware there would be some questions from the public, so he was happy to explain the reasoning. The chairman said, for one thing, the Guilford County commissioners hadn’t seen a raise in 17 years.
The last raise for the board was a 40 percent increase.
Alston said that, due to that great length of time since the last increase, the pay for Guilford County commissioners had fallen completely out of line with other county commissioners in the state.
Comparable counties in the state, he said, pay their commissioners more than the $21,200 Guilford County commissioners have been getting, and many other counties have additional perks such as in-state travel mileage reimbursement that Guilford County commissioners don’t get.
Guilford County commissioners only get a few perks, such as one communication device – a phone or a tablet computer – to use for county business.
Even commissioners from some smaller counties were making more than the Guilford County commissioners before the raise this week. Cumberland County commissioners make nearly $23,000 and get another $7,200 in “allowances.” Also, the chair of that board makes an additional $8,400.
Forsyth County commissioners make just under $25,000 a year, while Durham County commissioners make just over $25,000 each year.
The fleecing continues!
At former level or the new level they are overpaid. Zero public discussion, hidden from any agendas or work sessions, and comparing apples to oranges is what folks should expect with a Skip led organization. You get what you vote for:out of control spending, and taxes going up (wait till next year), zero transparency, and personal enrichment for those holding the purse strings.
Serving in public office for the city, county, state or federal government was never intended to be a paying job if you don’t want to do it you don’t have to. You should be ashamed for this action but you are a democrat and like most democrats you feel a sense of entitlement to tax payers money. Shame on you. Remember a thing called karma and the next election.
I bet Skip wouldn’t want you to have mentioned what you put in the last paragraph.
Skip should run for higher office. He thinks it is all about him.
Commissioners are elected as part time representatives. If he doesn’t feel it pays enough, he can resign. Same for the rest of these losers.
Glad to be leaving Guilford soon.
Democrats will get their big money ,either raise their salary, or steal it.
Please re-fleece me,
let me go
There is not enough money in the world to pay Skip what he thinks he’s worth.
Skip is a plague in this county.
To much money for a part time job.
Bent over…no grease used….again
Crooked is as crooked does.
Let’s see. When the current commissioners ran for office they knew what the salary was so it wasn’t a surprise. If they wanted to raise the salary of commissioners, it should be for commissioners elected AFTER the next election. Right now it looks as though these folks are just lining their pockets at the expense of taxpayers. I wonder…what if the next bunch of commissioners raise their pay? Will that be okay too? If Forsyth and Durham are paying less, why do our (small d) democrat commissioners need to be paid more than their neighbors? Answer…because like all liberal democrat elites, they think they are worth it and because voters can’t do anything about it. Well Guilford, you wanted a democrat controlled county commission and now you are beginning to see the price you are going to pay for it. GB is raising their taxes and the democrat commissioners are going to push a $1.5B bond issue for the schools. THAT after Sharon Contreas gave away $1,000,000 in bonuses to teachers instead of spending it on the kids or school safety which is her current talking point complaint. All of these democrats need to be defeated in the next election. Good ole Skippy should be the first one to go because he is the worst one of them all. Time to sweep them all out of office and the sooner the better.
I don’t know why this surprises anyone. Skip and most of these council members have been running roughshod over Guilford County taxpayers for years. You get what you vote for. Unfortunately alot of people just don’t vote. Maybe the next election will be different.
The beatings will continue.
As a public servant no one should complain about remuneration. Not one candidate ran on a platform of being underpaid.
Now Skip and his minions cite other counties, including Durham county, where commissioners make $25,000 annually. Their logic is, WE DESERVE A SALARY OVER 20% HIGHER THAN OTHER COMMISSIONERS.
You voted them in, you can vote them out!
We need to vote them all out the next election, before they find a way to add extras perks.
Alston will probably find a way to give our money to the civil rights musuem.
I would ask Skip and all commissioners who voted for this raise?You did not see Dollar figures when you elected to run for this job ,why there was any need to vote a pay raise as a first /or one of the first items of business.Also they hid the fact until after the budget was passed so there would be no UPROAR from the people who did not vote for them.These folks think they can stay in as commissioner as a job therefore they need a bigger salary.Skip has chosen this as a primary job and he is milking the system for all he can .When a Democrat gets in a job like this they are there forever.They seldom have an original idea of improvement to the community.They have learned that can stay at the trough till they die.All should be voted out and a new group of Republicans be voted in .Eight years with Republicans did not have a tax increase or a salary increase.WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE OF GUILFORD COUNTY,WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO VOTE THESE DEMOCRATS IN ?You know they will tax you to death and then give themselves big raises ,We are all suckers!!!!!!!!!!
skip says the raises were justified does anyone know a democrat who doesn’t think that “ entitlements” paid by taxpayers aren’t justified
The Republican Commissioners that served from 2012-2020 did not take the communication device. They chose to pay for their own phones, computers or tablets. They truly were fiscally conservative and they looked after their constituents tax money.
Civic service. They shouldnt be paid a dime. Of course Im sure Skip’s three new rubber stamps went right along with it
Do not forget that they also receive free health care for the rest of their lives without having to pay premiums that retired County employees must pay with over twenty or thirty years of service. Many County employees don’t make $31.000 working full-time for the County and have to pay a premium monthly for their health care. The Commissioners should be ashamed.
The Commissioners only get their health care insurance premiums paid for life if they serve 3 or more terms.
There you go spreading misinformation. Every full-time county employee makes over $31,000. Commissioners do not get free health care.
Tom you are so full of liberal crap not all full time county employees make 3100 a year