High Country Times

Wilkes County commissioners recently unanimously approved a 2% pay increase for government employees to the county’s draft fiscal 2020-21 budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

County Manager John Yates said a 2% pay hike will cost the county about $471,977, the Wilkes Journal-Patriot reported. The property tax rate will stay unchanged.

Commissioner Keith Elmore brought up the salary at the work session and stated that county workers deserved the pay increase for continuing to work during the pandemic and that they’ve managed to cut their department budgets by 10 to 14% in response to the economic impact of the pandemic, the newspaper reported.

Commissioner Gary Blevins said that any department budget cuts above 10% were too much and that the county is allocating its budget inefficiently, the newspaper reported. He also said that he supported the pay raise.

County commissioners are generally supportive of the budget cuts in response to the economic impact of the pandemic, which they believe will continue for at least the rest of the year and note that it’s easier to increase rather than decrease funding later.