August 19, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Pay Raises approved!
A group of county employees along with DeKalb County teachers, support staff, and bus drivers will soon be seeing larger paychecks with passage of the consolidated budget by the county commission Tuesday night
Teachers and support staff in the DeKalb County School System will be getting the largest local pay raise ever in a single year. The plan was first adopted by the Board of Education before being recommended by the county budget committee for the 2021-22 year. With passage of the school budget by the county commission Tuesday night teachers and other certified personnel will each get a $5,000 raise while support staff will each earn $3,000 more. Bus drivers will not share in the support staff raises but will be getting a pay hike just for them. Starting pay for bus drivers will jump from $74 to $100 per day. Pay for bus drivers with five or more years of service is to go to $115 per day and drivers of special education bus routes are to earn $120 per day. Meanwhile all middle and high school head coaches and assistant coaches are to each get an increase of $715 in supplement pay. Money is also included in the budget to fund an assistant coaching position in nine sports programs at the middle school and high school where the head coach currently has no assistant coach.
Except for step increases, base pay for a particular group of county employees has not been adjusted in four years. That will soon change.
With passage of the budget Tuesday night, the county is revising the base pay of county employees who fall under two separate wage scales already in place. Both are 13-tiered plans including an administrative employee pay scale which tops out at 20 years and applies mainly to employees who work for elected and appointed county officials at the courthouse and county complex. The other plan tops out at 13 years and is for full-time library staff and senior center directors.
Under the 20-year plan, the pay increases could range from $3,744 to $4,896 annually depending on years of service, while raises for those in the 13-year plan are jumping by $2,976 to $4,128. The total amount of the proposed pay hikes, including benefits, will add $129,703 in new spending to the county budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year.
Custodians who work at the courthouse and county complex will get at least a $3,000 pay raise according to their wage scale
Full time solid waste CDL drivers and laborers are to get a pay raise according to their wage scale
The three Judicial Commissioners are to each get a $1,000 per year pay raise. The salaries are to go from $12,900 to $13,900 per year
The Juvenile Court Youth Service Officer is to get a $4,000 pay raise
The county’s existing shared county firefighter position pay will increase from $12 to $15 per hour (total cost $31,200). No one specific individual holds the 40 hour per week position. Available county firefighters, who are trained and certified, rotate in and out of the position as needed. No one works more than 24 hours per week.
Pay raise for EMS director: $2,000
County public officials are getting a pay raise as prescribed by the state