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By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent

A merit increase was requested for the county road department but, though approved, was added to the yearly budget requests the county commission is now working on.

Lynn Ingram, Juab County Road Superintendent, and his road crew, attended county commission meeting to make the request.

“My guys have really stepped up this past year,” said Ingram. “There has been an increased amount of traffic on our roads, the West Desert had flooded roads, and during the year, we hit the most important roads.”

He said that COVID-19 had an effect on travel and rather than keeping people homebound had sent them out on the highways.

The annual budget must be approved and put in place by the end of December. By state code, the fiscal period for each county is an annual period beginning on January 1 of each year and ending December 31 of the same calendar year.

“I make the motion to approve the request but not until January 1,” said Clinton Painter, commissioner. Marvin Kenison, commissioner, made the second, and all voted in favor.

Prior to the motion, a lengthy discussion was held. Ingram said he was asking for a merit increase which he saw as a grade increase.

John Crippen, county administrator, said that there were step and grade increases. Grades were a bigger pay increase than were steps.

The county pay schedule has several grades from the lowest to the highest. Department heads establish or classify the grade of each job based on the level of difficulty, responsibility and qualifications required.

Each grade has step rates, said Crippen, that are each worth approximately 2-4 percent of the employee’s salary. Step increases are based on an acceptable level of performance and longevity. Employees with outstanding performance ratings may be considered for additional, quality step increases.

Ingram said that the crew could be increased from the grade of highway specialist #4.

“A grade increase is 10 percent,” said Crippen.

A new employee is usually hired at step one of the applicable grade. However, in special circumstances commissioners, at the request of department heads, may authorize a higher step rate for a newly-appointed employee based on superior qualifications of the prospective employee.

“I have money in my budget that wasn’t spent,” said Ingram. “There is $20,000 that could be used for the increase for a year and I have more than enough to allow the increase to be paid in December.”

“You also have $4 million in your reserve fund,” said Crippen. “However, if you eat away at that fund and don’t put money back in then your emergency fund will be gone.”

Some years the base pay schedule is adjusted in January with an across-the-board cost of living pay increase based on nationwide changes in the cost of wages and salaries of private industry workers.

Because of tight budget restraints, the commission was not always able to do that.

Ingram said he had asked for a wage increase for his employees in the past but Byron Woodland, commissioner at the time, did not want to give one department a raise without giving all departments a raise. All the other commissioners had agreed.

Ingram said he had brought money into his budget and did have the funds to pay the grade increase to his workers.

“Give them a merit raise for December,” Ingram said. “These guys work hard and we don’t get recognized.”

Painter said he disagreed and thought that the road crew was appreciated and that county residents did recognize the hard work that was done.

“I don’t think you are downplayed,” he said.

“Every comment I have received has been positive,” said Richard Hansen, commission chairman.

Nevertheless, said Ingram, the pay scale in the county was low and he had lost workers to other jobs that paid more. He said he had also kept the overtime down to almost zero.

Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) are Federal payments to local governments to help offset losses in property taxes due to the existence of nontaxable Federal lands within their boundaries. PILT payments help local governments carry out such vital services as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads and search-and-rescue operations.

“That money source has reduced,” said Crippen. “We have been using District #2 money.”

He said that Ingram had requested a new employee for next year’s budget (2022) because he was down three workers and Crippen asked if Ingram would be willing to use that money for a raise for current employees or still wanted a new employee.

“I would choose the raise,” said Ingram. “We are already operating short-handed. Most of these guys will be gone in seven years.”

Without a wage increase, it would be difficult to get a new employee to apply. In addition, the department was aging out. Within seven to 10 years, all of the current employees, except for one, would be retiring.

“We do have two tiers of employees,” said Crippen. “There is a 16 percent benefit increase for Tier 1. All but one of your employees are at Tier 1 and get the benefit.”

“The kind of experience these guys come with will be hard to replace,” said Ingram. “You can’t replace their skill and knowledge.”

“What we need is to get the 1/4-cent special sales tax to pay for the county’s road projects on the ballot this fall,” said Hansen. “We were too late last year but we need to get on top of it this year.”

Ingram said that the money was in his budget to be used this year. He said that he had $23,000 in the budget and would only need $20,000 for the full year.

“The money is there for 2021,” said Ingram.