By John Estridge
Franklin County Council members and commission president Tom Linkel had a discussion, which seem to parallel the current national discussion on increasing the minimum wage: An increase in the wage of part-time county employees would be offset by the subsequent decrease in the hours of employment.
This came at the February county council meeting Tuesday night, February 23.
Linkel talked to council about a Franklin County Handbook meeting earlier that day. He described it as a meeting full of opinionated people in one room. Some others attending the same meeting said it was a very interesting, but somewhat raucous meeting.
One of the main topics coming out of that meeting was the county’s hourly rate for part-time employees. It is $12 per hour. However, many elected officials and department heads said that rate was too low to draw qualified candidates.
Linkel described a recent situation involving the department he oversees, the highway department. It needed part-time truck drivers to help with snow and ice removal for the county’s road system. However, he said no one holding a CDL, which is mandatory to drive one of the snow plows, would work for $12 an hour.
Other elected officials and department heads had similar examples at the handbook meeting, Linkel said.
Council president Jeff Koch explained the financial dilemma associated with increasing part-time wages. Money for part-time help in the various departments is divvied up during the annual county budget workshops held in late August.
“I don’t have a problem raising rates,” Koch said. “But if an office gets $3,000 for part-time help, they can run it for $20-25 an hour (and) that is fine. But once that amount is gone, it’s gone. Don’t come back … the problem is when we set those budgets, council’s all in agreement this department will get this set amount and when we go beyond that, why do we even have budget hearings? It just doesn’t matter if we go over it or outside those lines, the whole thing’s a mess.”
“We talked about that today in the meeting,” Linkel said. “And everybody stood there and shook their head yes. They all understand that. If they raise the hourly wage and they use their money up, (you) don’t come back.”
Koch said council just has to say no to any requests for additional appropriations for any department asking for more money for part-time help once their respective budgets for that are depleted.
“I think it goes back to managing that office,” Koch said. “Each department head is the manager of that office. If you run it into the ground, then you’ve ran it in the ground. There’s nothing left.”
After that, there was a discussion of how to make the part-time hourly rate – changeable for each office — work for the State Board of Accounts. Bauman had noted the state regulators do not like the verbiage “up to” an amount.
Franklin County Auditor Karla Bauman suggested putting wording that department heads are free to make their own part-time hourly rates on the front page of the county handbook. She also agreed that once the department heads have depleted that budget, they are done.
After the department head decides on a part-time hourly rate, that department head should come before council and inform them of the rate, she said.
Koch said as a county council member, he does not want to micromanage. And to that end, he does not want to make each department head feel like he or she has to come before council and explain every little thing they do.
“It’s just a hassle for them and us,” Koch said.
Council member Scott McDonough suggested the auditor develop a form and the department head could inform the auditor of the rate he or she is going to set for part-time help.
Linkel then asked Bauman to contact the SBA and see what verbiage, regarding allowing department heads to differentiate the hourly rates for part-time help, that agency will accept. Bauman said she could do that. Also, she said everyone needs to just think about the situation and the best way to handle it. Koch and Linkel agreed.
“We need to find something that is the positive solution to this,” Koch said.
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