Horry County employees are about to get a raise. Here’s why.
Horry County employees, including elected officials, will receive a 3% pay raise in coming weeks, set to take effect in early March.
Members of County Council are set to vote on the legislation that would implement the raise next week, and county employees would see the raise reflected in their paychecks starting March 5. Horry County employees earn $47,200 per year on average, meaning the raise will be $1,416 on average, or around $54 per paycheck.
Elected officials such as Sheriff Phillip Thompson, Coroner Robert Edge, Treasurer Angie Jones and Auditor Lois Eargle will all receive the 3% raise as well. For Thompson, the highest paid of the group with a $133,268 annual salary, the raise means a nearly $4,000 bump.
Appointed officials, too, are eligible for the raise. The county’s Veteran Affairs Officer, library director and magistrate judges, among others, will also receive the raise.
The raise is part of an amendment to the county’s budget, which is essentially a repeat of fiscal year 2020’s budget. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, and it became clear that county revenues would be affected by the virus, county leaders chose to maintain their current budget rather than write a new one. County leaders also implemented a hiring freeze and a pay freeze, meaning employees did not receive a cost-of-living raise last year.
The budget amendment also increases the tipping fees the Solid Waste Authority charges for drop-offs. The Authority is increasing solid waste tipping fees by $2 to $38 per ton, and mixed construction waste tipping fees by $1 to $29 per ton.
Overall, the budget amendment calls for around $20 million in additional spending, bringing the 2021 budget from $459 million to $481 million.
A step towards a bigger fix
The raise comes as county leaders seek to compensate employees more fairly and eliminate wage compression that causes workers in some positions here to be paid less than they would if they moved to another county. Wage compression is a problem because it can make it difficult for the county to retain talented employees.
Previously, county employees were given annual raises on a so-called merit system in which supervisors would evaluate workers’ performance each year and award a raise between 1% and 5%. However, to manage costs, the system required all raises in a given year to average out to 3%, meaning some employees would always receive higher raises and some would always receive lower raises. Some County Council members have called that system unfair because an employee’s annual cost-of-living raise was dependent upon an evaluation system that could produce different results each year.
Because those raises were dependent on annual evaluations, an employee might receive a 5% raise one year, but only a 1% raise the next two years, followed by a 3% raise the year after.
Rather, said Council member Cam Crawford, the county should implement a pay scale system in which raises are contingent on both rank within a department and years employed by the county. Such a system would give workers clarity on what they could expect to make each year, and would incentivize them to stay longer. Crawford said he’s currently working on a plan to implement such a pay scale and could begin introducing related pieces of employee compensation legislation in coming weeks and months.
“Because of the merit system that was in place, it didn’t foster a good situation for county employees because those raises didn’t roll over,” Crawford, who represents Socastee, said. “A merit scale can be good, but it has to be backed up by a pay scale.”
‘Our employees are our most valuable asset’
In the meantime, as Crawford and other council members work out a new system for employee compensation, the 3% raises this year serve as a bridge, and a way to show employees that they’re valued.
“Our employees are our most valuable asset. I want to make sure they’re happy at their jobs, and pay is a big part of that,” Crawford said. “A lot of those jobs are not easy and I think they work very hard.”
The raise also comes as Horry County grapples with the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and works to draft a budget that accounts for COVID-19-related losses. County officials reported last month that the county lost some $22 million in tax and fee revenue due to a slowdown in tourist traffic. But an increase in property tax revenue, a hiring freeze and federal CARES Act funding allowed the county to free up enough money for the 3% raises, after employees got no such raise last year.
“I give the county credit for the 3% raise,” Crawford said. “I think it shows that we’re frugal and good at managing money.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 4:48 PM.
