Commissioners OK raises for JFS managers

STAFF REPORT

LISBON — The Columbiana County commissioners have approved pay raises for 32 management workers at the county’s Department of Job & Family Services.

The raises cover three years retroactive to March 1 of this year.

Pay will increase by 3.75 percent in the first year, 3.25 percent in the second year, and 3.3 percent in the third.

In the first year, pay will go from the lowest rate of $10.91 an hour to a new low of $11.32 an hour to a possible top pay of $13.08 per hour.

In the second year, raises will go to a low of $11.69 per hour to a top of $13.51 an hour. In the third year, pay will go to a low of $12.04 an hour to a top of $13.91 an hour.

Eileen Dray-Bardon, the agency’s director, said there are pay steps within each category, and many positions are not being paid at the top rates.

For years, the county has hired many workers who eventually go to JFS agencies in surrounding counties that pay higher wages, she added.