Commission eyeing $1,000 bonuses for all Morgan County employees, 2% COLA

For the Enquirer

All of the 400 employees of the Morgan County Commission, both part time and full time, may receive a $1,000 bonus in December, plus a 2% cost-of-living adjustment for the 2025 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

The one-time payment is “just to kind of reward our employees,” said Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long. “We’ve had a pretty good year. Most of that’s because they watched their spending; the insurance, they’ve helped us on that – our insurance usage is down some. When they work with us, we want to work back and give them something back.” County employees received a $200 bonus last year.

“But we’ve got the funds this year because everybody’s worked together, so we can give them $1,000,” Long said. “I feel confident that those four guys (the other commissioners) will vote for that because their employees get it. Every county employee will get that, even the part time, because we are one team. Doesn’t matter if you work for the probate office, the license (office), the Sheriff ‘s Office or whatever, we’re all county officials and county employees. So, we’re going to treat everybody the same on that.” The cost-of-living adjustments, one-time payments, and salary increases would cost the county about $2.13 million if approved.

Long said they have done things differently this year in preparing the budget. He said there were no substantial needs for additional funding among any of the departments for the upcoming fiscal year. “I’ve met with all department heads already and I know what they want, what they’re hoping we’ll give them,” Long said. “Everything that I feel like they need I’ve put in my budget already. It’ll be a lot quicker process. … At this moment, I don’t anticipate anything hardly being added to the budget.” The general fund revenues are projected to be about $32.65 million with about $32.61 million expected in expenditures. The total fund, including the general fund, is projected to have about $79.65 mil-lion in revenue and $77.81 million in expenditures.

County Coroner Jeff Chunn’s budget would increase by $12,484, or 22.2%. In the commission’s proposed budget, the coroner’s budget is $72,921.

“He’s been needing help. He’s asked for some part time help and we never had that in his budget,” Long said. “But his call rate’s been going up; he’s getting more calls. He’d like to take a vacation every now and then.” Long said they are giving him $10,000 for an additional parttime employee, $1,000 for training, and $1,000 for training travel expenses.

“I need deputy coroners,” Chunn said. “Basically, I’m the only one; I’m on call 24/7. I do have some deputy coroners that volunteer services, but they have full-time jobs. I’m looking at possibly hiring somebody that’s retired. … I’m sure if we’re able to find somebody else for help that it’ll be part time for them. They can’t survive on that unless it’s somebody that’s retired.” It may be difficult to find a deputy coroner to hire, Chunn said.

“Trying to find somebody that can do this type of work is pretty hard,” he said. “They have to have at least some type of death investigation (experience). I’m looking for somebody that has a background in law enforcement or medical.” Chunn said he plans to hire one part-time deputy coroner who would fulfill the same duties as Chunn. He said the money he is expected to get for training would be for both the new employee and the current deputy coroners. Chunn said his deputies are required to have initial training and then continued training each year.

Long said License Commissioner Kate Terry has asked for five additional tag renewal kiosks, at a total cost of about $80,000, in addition to the one in the Morgan County Courthouse. He said a lot of people have used the one in the courthouse and it has been a success. Long said it eliminates the need to stand in line for a clerk if you have no changes to your renewal and they can be placed in areas that are distant from tag offices.

Emergency Management Agency employees and solid waste truck drivers would get an increase in their salaries.

“We have a hard time keeping them because some of our surrounding counties pay more than we do,” Long said. “The only reason any of us work is to pay our bills. So, if you can make more somewhere else, I don’ t blame anybody for doing that. But this will raise our pay up to at least what the surrounding areas are, maybe more.” Long said it is a good budget.

“One that we can be proud of,” he said. “I think (the commissioners) can be proud of it, employees are going to be proud of it.” Long said he plans for the commission to vote on the budget in the beginning of September before fiscal 2025 starts on Oct. 1.