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Elections board employee raises discussed again
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Ten months after approving and then rescinding employee raises, the Mahoning County Board of Elections is talking about the issue again.
Dave Betras, the board’s vice chairman and Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, opposes the idea.
“I’m against any raises at any time in the future,” he said.
The board met Monday morning and Betras said he congratulated the staff, telling them what a great job they did with the election.
Tracey Winbush, commission member, then said the board should consider raises for employees in 2015.
“We need to make sure our employees are compensated equally with employees of boards of elections of equal size across the state,” Winbush said.
Lip service about employees doing a good job is great, she said, but those employees need to be compensated for the work they do, she said.
Unlike employees in other county departments, board of elections employees aren’t covered by a collective bargaining agreement, Winbush said. The only time pay increases for them are considered is when the board discusses it.
Because that discussion must happen publicly, there’s reticence to do it, she said.
“I don’t think that’s right,” Winbush said.
Mark Munroe, board chairman and Mahoning County Republican Party chairman, appointed Winbush and member Robert Wasko to look at employee pay.
“I don’t need to look at their pay. They are paid well,” Betras said.
Voters just passed the county sales tax, he said.
Betras said he would vote against pay raises and urge Wasko, the board’s other democrat, to do the same.
“If the Republicans want to give out raises, that’s up to them. The Democrats will not be giving out raises,” Betras said.
Munroe said he asked Winbush and Wasko to compare the employee pay with those of other boards so the board has the research if “at some point down the road, when time is right” the board wants to consider pay increases for employees.
Last January, the board approved and then rescinded a 3 percent base pay raise for the 12 employees. That would have amounted to about $17,000 in additional payroll. Winbush voted against rescinded the raises at that time.
The board’s nine clerks’ annual base-pay salary was to go from $40,433 to $41,646. The annual salary of the board’s information technology manager, was to increase from $57,270 to $58,988 and the director and deputy who each earn $73,143 would have seen their salaries increase to $75,337, had the raises stuck.
At that time, Mahoning County commissioners who were lobbying for sales tax renewal, threatened to cut the board’s budget, which had included the pay increases, if the raises were approved.
In other business, the board certified the Nov. 4 general election results. A Sunday liquor option in Youngstown Precinct 6D for a grocery and convenience store at 3120 Market St. was approved. The issue was tied 57-57, but one provisional vote in that precinct was cast in favor of the issue.
Munroe said the board also moved ahead with the first phase of a plan to redraw precincts in the county.
“There’s particular urgency for Youngstown and Struthers because they have primaries this year and the filing deadline is in February,” Munroe said. “We’ve adopted a two-step process and the first step is Youngstown and Struthers.”
The second phase is redrawing the precincts for the remainder of the county.
A map of the proposed redrawn precincts in those two cities will be posted on the Mahoning County Board of Elections website, vote.mahoningcounty-oh.gov, likely today or later this week. A public hearing is set for 5 p.m. Dec. 17 at the board offices where Munroe said residents will be able to provide input.
The board will decide on the proposed changes after that.