Centre County to raise pay for govt. employees

CENTRE CO., Pa. (WJAC) — Centre County Commissioners approved a plan Thursday to raise salaries of county government employees.

6 News spoke with one of the commissioners about this.

As the cost of living rises in Centre County and other parts of the country, Commissioner Michael Pipe told 6 News he hopes this will make county government jobs more competitive.

"So, Centre County government over the last year has embarked on a salary and compensation study," Pipe explained. "And it's the first one we've done in nearly a quarter century. And what it allows us to do is to look at each individual position we have at, at the county benchmark it off of our competitors, other folks in other counties, and really allows us to see where we have situated ourselves from a competitive nature and also a compensation nature."

"Truly, the realization is that we needed to do this long ago," he added.

Centre County Commissioners and the Salary Board finally got to approve the plan Thursday.

"We are raising all of our salaries to a minimum of $15 an hour," Pipe told 6 News. "So, all of the jobs throughout Centre County government salaries are $15. Now, that's also in addition to a pension that we have for folks, defined contribution."

"In addition,...every employee is going to at least see an increase of $1,000 this year," he continued. "Some of the employees will see that because their base salary rate has increased. But we may see some employees getting that more in a one-time bonus payment... 'cause some employees, their salaries are actually competitive. The majority of our employees though, however, needed to get brought back up."

The plan will also see the "reclassing" of certain positions within departments to give them what he says are more adequate titles.

Now, the big question: What money is funding this pay increase?

"The majority of the costs will be offset by the American Rescue Plan," said Pipe. "There also is some money that specific departments, especially human services, will be able to utilize to offset some of the increases."

However, the American Rescue Plan and the $30 million in funding are not permanent.

"So, we have until 2024 to say where the American Rescue Plan funds are going to go. We have until 2026 to actually spend them now. The law could change...with the cares act that was done in 2020."

But where else to get this funding?

"So, not just the actual money we've received from the federal government can be used to offset these costs, but also potential long-term treasury bonds or CDs. ...We see a lot of growth within the commercial space here in Centre County. Not seeing it as much in the housing space or residential space, but if those two — if development continues to occur in Centre County, the property taxes that we receive from those will help to offset any salary, healthcare, etc. costs that will be in the future."

6 News also asked Pipe if rising inflation played a role in launching the study. He said the lower inflation of April 2021 did not play a role — but that current rates make it more important now.

ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRfmLKvwNGeZJynpaPBunnTqGSrmZmosm68wLJkn6eiYrSwwtNmnKaonKTGprHS