Photo by: Joselyn Koenig
Ohio County Commissioner Randy Wharton (left), Commission President Don Nickerson and Commissioner Zach Abraham listen as County Administrator Randy Russell explains matters before the commission during a recent meeting.
WHEELING — Ohio County commissioners expect health insurance premiums for county workers to increase next year, but county employees will still receive an annual pay raise.
In recent years, the county has given its employees a $1,000 annual raise just before Thanksgiving, but rising health insurance costs have forced the policy to be reconsidered.
At their last meeting, commissioners approved an $800 annual wage increase for 2024 for all employees, who will receive the money as a lump sum payment with their next paycheck. The $800 increase will then be applied as a phased wage increase beginning July 1, 2025.
According to County Administrator Randy Russell, there are 164 full-time employees in Ohio County.
The county is currently conducting a salary study to determine how best to support its employees financially, said Commissioner Zach Abraham.
“We hope the salary study will help us in the future,” he said. “Of course, choosing a random number (for a pay increase) may be arbitrary, but we are aware that there will be insurance increases.”
He suggested that Commissioners consider a salary increase for staff, and Commission President Don Nickerson agreed.
“It’s as difficult for the commission as it is for the staff,” Nickerson said. “It’s a big burden on the county budget, but we’re happy to help as much as we can.”
Commissioners have already been informed that the county’s contribution to employee insurance costs will increase by $450,000 next year. Health insurance costs currently run about $4 million and make up about a fifth of Ohio County’s budget — about $21 million, according to Abraham.
“To put that in perspective, we’ve been able to reduce that somewhat through some changes in plan design and some pass-through to employees,” he said. “But when you look at the open market and you look at the insurance premiums, the premiums that our team members pay here are still extremely low.”
Abraham said he thinks the county should probably increase each employee’s pay by $500 to $750. The commission would then have to decide whether to pay the money to employees in one lump sum or incrementally throughout the year.
“It’s difficult to hire and retain good employees,” said Commissioner Randy Wharton. “We need to provide some sense of stability to our workforce. We need to develop some standards – some entry-level standards and some mid-level standards – and make it clear to employees that they can spend their careers with us.”
“The wild card we are dealing with now is the cost of benefits. We know what pensions cost, but the cost of health insurance is a difficult number.”
Wharton said commissioners were warned of a 15 to 20 percent increase in insurance costs next year.
“It only makes sense to be more cautious with rewards,” he explained. “But we have a lot of good employees who deserve a raise. Even a small raise goes a long way to say we appreciate your work.”
Wharton added that commissioners need to work with the county’s elected officials, such as the sheriff and tax assessor, to develop a strategy for filling their positions and that they all need to have an idea of what budgets they will face in the coming years.
“We’ve had a lot of challenges since COVID,” he continued. “We’ve gotten better and we’ll get better.”
Abraham noted that many of the elected officials have already looked for ways to make their offices more efficient and reduce their staff numbers. He pointed to County Clerk Mike Kelly, who digitized most of the county’s records during his tenure while reducing the need for some employees.
“We’ve seen this in some other offices where they’ve decided not to hire new employees and let others do the work,” Abraham said. “They work more efficiently and have more technology at their disposal.”
“I would encourage all of our officials to look at this. There is only so much revenue available. We rely on the amount of tax revenue we get, so we need to use those resources as effectively as possible.”
However, one should not forget to reward and value employees appropriately, says Wharton.
“We don’t want our people to be paid so poorly that they’re constantly looking for a job,” he said. “We don’t want to lose our good people to the private sector. I would prefer if we got them out of the private sector.”
“One of my goals since I’ve been here is to protect benefits. … That’s something you show an employee, and that makes them feel better about themselves.”
According to Abraham, the benefits amount to about 30-40% of a district employee’s salary package.
