On Thursday the Marshall County Council held a work session to continue working on the 2019 budget. The discussion was primarily centered on the salaries for next year and the Waggoner Irwin Scheele Salary Survey and job descriptions.
The council still needs to cut $360,000 from next year’s budget requests and while they had department heads put in a 4% salary increase they knew they probably wouldn’t be able to keep the whole amount in the 2019 budget. A 4% increase is equal to about $250,000 and the recommendation from Waggoner Irwin Scheele to bring all employees up to the external mid-point of the salary survey is an additional $587,000.
While no official action could be taken during the work session, council members did voice their thoughts and concerns along with recommendations to get a balanced budget.
After several hours the consensus seemed to be giving employees a $500 raise next year and bringing some of the elected officials pay in-line with the responsibilities they have.
The council also was informed that next year’s highway budget was still over the projected revenues. Several recommendation were made to cut various line items including seasonal part-time by $10,000; dust control by $10,000; stone gravel and aggregate by an additional $40,000; bituminous by $50,000; Social Security by $3,500; Vehicle Maintenance by $25,000; Repair of Buildings and Structures by $10,000; Truck and Tractors by $15,000; Road Equipment Repair by $5,000; Highway Equipment by $24,000 and it was suggested the Highway Engineer’s position be totally removed at $65,000.
The County Council will continue working on making cuts and finalizing the 2019 budget.
