March raises slow in county

The pay-raise momentum in Mahoning County operations slowed in March, compared with the lottery-like atmosphere of January and February.

I promised to watch the pay raises in a land of too many bosses and too little funds — and no consistent way to manage county-worker salaries.

Example: Prosecutor Paul Gains doled out 20 percent pay increases while deputy sheriffs entered their fifth year of no pay increases, no OT, no promotions, no uniform allowance, etc.

Fueled by Gains’ pay increases, the county increased its payroll by $205,361 in February. That was the highest boost in the past four months.

January saw $118,921 in pay increases fueled by big raises at the county engineer’s office. December was up $81,811.

Adding in the March pay adjustments, the county has doled out $461,560 more in income in the last four months compared with last year.

The March increase of $55,467 is not unique in terms of dollars. But it’s unique, if not charming, for a few other reasons that are common as I make calls to the various departments:

Only sales taxes count as taxpayer dollars. Increased spending due to state or federal funds, court fines, gas fees do not count as an impact on citizens. Just sales taxes.

Added duties constitute a pay raise even though the work did not add to the length of the workweek.

Big raises are acceptable to make up for three years of freezes. When positions go unfilled, it seems half of the savings go unspent and half go to the remaining staff.

The Board of Elections handed out the two biggest adjustments — $8,146 each to two staffers.

Board of Elections Director Tom McCabe said the staff has been on a five-year pay freeze, and last year there were reductions in pay for staff of 25 percent.

Of the 25 percent cuts, two employees were laid off permanently this year and two were kept at the reduced pay level. But two, Ray Butler and Virginia LaMarca, were restored to their pay rate before the 25 percent reduction.

Wages for the board are at $458,000 for 2011, compared with $536,000 in 2005.

The county Alcohol and Drug Board gave raises of $6,892 (21 percent) and $6,275 (20 percent) to two staffers and $1,319 (3.2 percent) to a third staffer.

Department boss Michael Senchak, who’s been on the job for 12 weeks, said the raises are a result of changing duties and reassigning tasks — such as grant- writing. The two staffers are Jennifer Pangio and Brenda Heidinger.

The salaries that were arrived at were based on state comparisons. The money became available by leaving one post vacant and eliminating another.

As a whole, the office is down to four employees. It used to be seven.

The ladies of the law library earned raises ranging from 9 percent to 12 percent. Law Library Director Rick Durkin said the board had not offered raises to the staff in three years, while most other agencies in the county had raises.

The department draws its money from court fines, and last year it had about a $70,000 surplus.

“This board was mindful of the perception of an increase,” Durkin said. “But we are one of the lowest-paid offices in the county.”

On that point, it’s worth noting that of all the 30 people who received raises in March, none earned more than $60,000, and more than half earned salaries under $40,000. The low salary was $22,309, and the high was $56,721.

Go to my blog on vindy.com Monday for year-to-date spreadsheets of these adjustments.

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes e-mails about stories and our newspaper. E-mail him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on vindy.com.