All New Castle County workers to receive pay increases

New Castle County's 1,400 employees are in line for pay raises each of the next three years, further driving up already ballooning costs for running local government.

The pay increases compound and will raise workers salaries by nearly 6 percent, costing the county about $5.5 million.

County Council in recent months has approved contracts with the county's unionized employees, which comprise 87 percent of its workforce. The new contracts give those workers pay increases of one percent this year and two percent each of the following two years. That's in addition to improved holiday pay and time off.

With union contracts finalized, the county is doling out the same pay increases to non-union workers. Historically, non-union employees have also benefitted from the contracts negotiated by the county's collective bargaining units, a county spokesperson said.

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This year is no different, said Councilman George Smiley, who chairs the County Council Finance Committee.

"It is part of running the government," Smiley said.

Salaries, wages and benefits for employees make up the biggest expense to taxpayers in the state's largest municipality. This fiscal year, which runs from June to next July, the county has $164 million budgeted for wages and benefits.

Personnel costs are also one of the faster-growing costs for the county. The cost for wages, salaries and benefits jumped $8 million from last year to this year. That comes after similar year-over-year growth in recent years.

It also comes in years county employees have not been given across-the-board salary increases like those they are set to receive over the coming years.

Most county employees are part of the so-called merit system, which gives workers an annual, five-percent pay jump for up to their first 10 years working for government. Those increases are separate from the recently approved pay increases and are the most significant driver of personnel cost increases, administration officials have said.

But many county employees are already at that 10th step and have seen no raise for years, Smiley said. This creates a situation were the most experienced employees have seen no change to their pay in the years leading up to the planned increases.

"Each year we lose more and more knowledge and you bring in lower people that are getting the step (increases)," Smiley said. "Sometimes it takes longer to get (stuff) done because they don't know as much."

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The union contracts were approved late in the election season. Smiley said it isn't a political issue.

"If this wasn't an election year, the same thing would have been taking place," Smiley said.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.