Worcester Commissioners Reject Scheduled Salary Bump

Worcester Commissioners Reject Scheduled Salary Bump
File photo by Charlene Sharpe

SNOW HILL– The Worcester County Commissioners opted to waive their scheduled salary increase for the coming four years.

The commissioners voted 6-0, with Commissioner Joe Mitrecic absent, to waive the 1.5 percent cost of living increase they were set to receive for the 2018-2022 term.

“All of us felt it was not necessary,” Commissioner Jim Bunting said.

The commissioners’ salary of $25,000 each per year was established by resolution in 2005. According to that resolution, each commissioner’s salary is set to increase automatically each four years based on the cost of living increase given to county employees during the prior four-year term. Prior to their 2010-2014 term, the commissioners opted to waive the scheduled salary increase of 12.5 percent, according to Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Shannahan, so their salaries remained $25,000.

Prior to the 2014-2018 term, the commissioners took no action so their salaries increased 4 percent to $26,000 per year.

Now, prior to the 2018-2022 term, salaries were set to increase 1.5 percent, or $390 a commissioner, because during the past four years county employees have received a 1.5 percent cost of living increase.

Bunting said the commissioners opted to forgo the raise so the funding could be used elsewhere in the county budget.

“Our salary is adequate,” he said. “We’re all there because we want to be, not because of the salary.”

About The Author: Charlene Sharpe

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Charlene Sharpe has been with The Dispatch since 2014. A graduate of Stephen Decatur High School and the University of Richmond, she spent seven years with the Delmarva Media Group before joining the team at The Dispatch.