The County Commission approved a budgeted raise for employees, as well as elected officials and itself. The Commission voted 3-0 to approve providing a 3 percent cost of living increase to county employees for 2024. “We discussed this in budget season too so it’s all been approved in the 2024 budget,” he said. The plan also allocates $147,000 to alleviate an issue County Administrator Anthony Swartendruber described as wage compression. As hiring wages have risen they’ve begun to outpace wages for existing employees. Swartzendruber said the money would help provide some gap between employees with longer tenures and new hires. 54 County employees would be affected by that provision. County Commissioners will now paid $36,014 annually. The County Attorney( District Attorney) will receive $124,521, the County sheriff $111,638, the County Clerk $87,630, the County Register of deeds, $78,094, the County treasurer $75,760. In other news, the County approved a resolution to participate in a state program aimed at drawing out-of-state college graduates to live in Kansas counties, but not before objections were raised. As part of the program, the recipient will receive $3,000 a year in college loan forgiveness for up to five years. The State, through the Department of Commerce, pays half of that cost and requires a local match for the other half. Harvey County has been part of the program since 2021, but provides no local match. Instead, businesses or other organizations are charged with paying the local match. Renewal of the program came up on the County’s Jan. 2 agenda and Amy Siple addressed the county during the public comment section of the meeting. “This feels like a slap in the face to Harvey County Citizens,” she said “You’re asking us to pay off student loans for people to move into Harvey County.”
Source: Harvey County Now
