Cole County officials to look at job pay county-wide

Cole County officials will soon start a salary study for jobs across the county.

County commissioners decided Tuesday to do the study in-house instead of hiring out.

There has not been a salary study done in the county for at least a decade, according to Presiding Cole County Commissioner Sam Bushman.

“When I came in I was just impressed with the caliber of people that we’ve got working for us, and we want to keep them.” Bushman said. “And they deserve to be paid a good decent salary. So if we have the money to do it, we want to pay them.”

Bushman said the commission will be bringing in officials from other counties that have recently completed, or are in the middle of similar studies, to get input.

One department that said it needs a boost in pay is the sheriff’s department.

ABC 17 News reported last month, the Cole County Sheriff’s Department had lost 24 employees since the start of 2015, perhaps in part to the pay.

“We’re losing people to those greener grasses, those greener fields that they think’s greener because of higher pay,” Capt. John Wheeler told ABC 17 News last month.

Earlier this year, the sheriff’s department asked commissioners for longevity pay raises within the department, but it was tabled for a later date.

According to Bushman, it was presented in a way that was too complicated for the commission to make an immediate decision, but the study may be able to make a difference.

“It was a very intense complicated spread sheet and so it wasn’t we could decide on right off the bat,” Bushman said. “So I think this way, we’re gonna look at his people and maybe try to do something to help him.”

The salary study will begin sometime late next month, according to Bushman.