“Unemployment is low and everyone is competing for the good, quality workers and the competition is getting tougher,” Lohnes said. “The union contracts had included raises and we are trying to keep everyone on par and treat them like everyone else as long as we can.”
MORE: Clark County will examine cuts with projected $2M deficit in 2019
The cost of living increase will cost the county about $243,000 this year, according to county records. There are 142 employees that will get a raise due to the approval.
Keeping quality employees is a top priority, Lohnes said. Clark County employees saw an increase in their health-care premiums last year so the raise will help with those additional expenses, he said.
Clark County Commissioners Melanie Flax-Wilt and Lowell McGlothin both voted for the raises and said in the meeting they support them because the county employees deserve them.
The decision to give raises became more complicated after a shortfall of revenue.
The county is projected to generate about $38 million in revenue next year, down from about $39.4 million this year. The reduced revenue is directly related to the loss of about $1.2 million due to federal changes to sales taxes this year, Clark County Administrator Jenny Hutchinson previously said. The federal government ended the state’s collection of sale taxes on services from Medicaid managed-care organizations such as Dayton-based CareSource.
“You can definitely tell when that change occurred,” she said.
Clark County collected about $3 million in Medicaid Health Insuring Corp. sales taxes annually, according to state data — making up more than 12 percent of its $23.5 million sales tax revenue.
READ: Tax changes means cuts to county, Clark County sheriff’s offices
County commissioners didn’t vote on the 2018 budget on Wednesday. Hutchinson told commissioners the budget should be ready for approval soon.
Future raises are uncertain with all the changes happening outside of the county’s control, Lohnes said.
“We saved enough money that we can offer the standard 2 percent, however, we don’t know how long that is going to last,” he said.
Commissioners needs to make sure they’re making the best decisions so the county is prepared for 2020, he said.
“We know that after 2018, we will be suffering the $3.1 million loss from that special Medicaid sales tax issue,” Lohnes said. “But we got some money from the state and that will cover us through 2018, summer of 2019.”
EXTRA: Clark County employees will see health care cost increase in 2018
Clark County will probably be OK through this next budget cycle, he said.
“In 2019, when we are doing the 2020 budget, that’s when things can get thin,” Lohnes said.
Commissioners remain hopeful that regular sales tax revenues will continue to raise so decisions made then might be easier.
“We are hoping as we change the way we spend money and regular sales tax will continue to rise — which it has — so the budget in 2020 won’t be so bad,” he said.
2 percent: The raises given to non-union employees by Clark County.
$243,000: The cost of giving the raises to non-union Clark County employees.
$40.8 million: Amount Clark County is projected to spend in 2018.
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