The Tippecanoe County Commissioners are recommending a two-percent raise for county employees in 2016.
The pay hike will cost the county roughly $350,000.
Commissioner Dave Byers voted against the two-percent increase, because he believes county employees deserve more.
“We’ve been very tight for the past four or five years," says Byers. "If you look at the percentage that’s been given to the employees for the past few years it’s been three-percent at the most, give or take. If you add that up we haven’t even kept up with inflation. So I thought we could have gone a little bit higher.”
But Commissioner Tom Murtaugh says he would rather take a conservative approach to raises until the results of a market study are complete.
He says the survey will let the county know if its employees are being paid fair market value.
Murtaugh says that information could change his opinion on pay increases.
“That would be the discussion at that point," says Murtaugh. "Do we now have certain job classifications that are now under market and we need to focus any excess dollars on getting them back to market so that we can retain the experienced personnel that we have.”
The County Council has the final say on raises. A vote will come during budget hearings in September. County employees received a three-percent raise this year. In 2014, officials awarded a one-time, one-thousand dollar bonus for most employees.