County approves salary changes for Revenue Commission employees

By Holli Keaton (Contact) | Troy Messenger

Published Monday, January 12, 2009

After approval for salary boosts in the Pike County Revenue Commission office, other county employees may see another pay increase coming their way.

In the Pike County Commission meeting Monday, Revenue Commissioner Curtis Blair requested slight hikes to employee salaries across the board in his office to compensate for not replacing a retired employee, who took the commission up on the early retirement incentive last year.

Blair said he didn’t plan to replace his retired employee, but he wanted to disperse some of the salary to the others, who would be working extra to pick up the slack.

Commissioners approved Blair’s request, which will still save them around $8,000, but it wasn’t done without some opposition.

District 4 Commissioner Ray Goodson opposed the motion, since the retirement incentive was meant to save the county money by not replacing positions.

“If we go and give that money back to other employees, what’s the benefit?” Goodson said.

But since the salary adjustment was approved, Goodson requested other offices that had employees retire in the program be granted the same salary adjustment.

Those include the commission office and the road department, Goodson said.

Nothing was decided, but the next meeting will include proposals to grant further raises to employees of these departments for extra workloads they might incur.

“We’re leaving some behind, and that’s not right,” Goodson said. “All I’m asking is that everyone be treated equally.”

Also in their meeting, the commission reappointed three members of the E911 board, who were up for renewal.

Wayne Brooks, Carroll Rhodes and Troy Fire Chief Thomas Outlaw were reappointed in a 4-2 vote by the commission.

District 6 Commissioner Karen Berry nominated Jay Gibson and Goodson nominated Amy Dent to serve on the board. But, other commissioners denied these requests, reappointing Brooks and Rhodes.

The commission also approved the re-striping of County Road 7714, from Orien Street stretching to US 231.

Though the road department is tight on funding, County Engineer Russell Oliver announced Lockheed Martin volunteered to pay $5,000 toward having the project done, an amount that should cover the costs completely.

Dick Debruyne, who spoke on behalf of Lockheed, said they were glad to be able to assist with the project to ensure safety of the street’s residents and their employees.

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