photo by: Joselyn King

Ohio County Commissioner Randy Wharton, left, Commission President Don Nickerson and Commissioner Zach Abraham listen to County Administrator Randy Russell explain matters before the commission during a recent meeting.

WHEELING — Ohio County commissioners are expecting a hike in the county’s health insurance premiums for workers next year, but county employees are still going to get an annual wage increase.

In past years, the county has given employees an annual wage increase of $1,000 just before Thanksgiving, but with the growing price of health insurance they had to rethink this policy.

At their most recent meeting, commissioners approved an annual wage increase of $800 for 2024 for all employees, who will receive the money as one lump sum on their next paycheck. The $800 raise then will be figured in as an incremental wage increase beginning July 1, 2025.

Ohio County has 164 full-time employees, according to County Administrator Randy Russell.

The county is presently doing a salary study to determine how they can best financially help their employees, Commissioner Zach Abraham explained.

“We’re hoping the salary study will help with the future,” he said. “Obviously, selecting a random number (for a wage increase) can be arbitrary, but we recognize there will be insurance increases.”

He suggested commissioners consider a raise for employees, and Commission President Don Nickerson agreed.

“It’s as difficult for the commission as it is for the employees,” Nickerson said. “It’s a big increase for the county budget, but we like to help out as much as we can.”

Commissioners already were informed that the county’s contribution toward employee insurance costs would rise $450,000 next year. Health insurance costs currently are at about $4 million and account for about one-fifth of Ohio County’s budget — which is about $21 million, according to Abraham.

“To put this in perspective, we were able to reduce this somewhat through some plan design changes, and some pass-through to employees,” he said. “But if you go out to the open market and you see what insurance premiums are, the premiums our team members here pay is still extremely less.”

Abraham said in his mind the county should probably bump up the pay for each employee by $500 to $750. The commission then would need to decide if the money should be given to employees in one lump sum, or incrementally in their pay over the course of the year.

“It’s difficult to hire and retain good employees,” Commissioner Randy Wharton said. “One thing that we need to do is provide some sense of stability for our workforce. We need to develop some standards — some entry level standards and some middle-range standards — and let employees know they can spend their career with us.

“The wildcard we deal with now is the cost of benefits. We know what the cost is for pensions, but the cost of health insurance is a tough number to deal with.”

Wharton said commissioners are being warned of a 15-20% increase in insurance costs next year.

“It only makes sense to be more prudent with rewards,” he explained. “But we have an awful lot of good employees who deserve some type of increase. Even a small increase is enough to say we appreciate what you do.”

Wharton added commissioners would have to work with the county’s elected officials like the sheriff and assessor to develop a strategy on how they should staff their offices, and all should have an understanding of what budgets they will see in the coming years.

“We’ve had a lot of challenges since COVID,” he continued. “We’ve gotten better, and we’re going to get better.”

Abraham noted many of the elected officials have already looked toward ways to make their offices more efficient and reduce the number of employees they have. He referenced County Clerk Mike Kelly, who during his tenure has digitized most of the county’s records while reducing the need for some staff.

“We’ve had that in a couple of other offices where they’ve chosen not to hire and have others absorb the work,” Abraham said. “They are working more efficiently, and there is more technology available to them.

“That is something I would encourage all of our officials to look at. There is only a certain amount of revenue available. We’re stuck to the amount of tax revenue we get, so we have to use those resources as effectively as we can.”

But you still can’t forget about properly compensating and appreciating employees, Wharton said.

“You don’t want your people to be paid so little that they are constantly looking for a job,” he said. “We don’t want to lose our good people to the private sector. I would rather we take them from the private sector.

“One of my goals since I’ve been here is to try and protect benefits. … It’s something you let an employee see that makes them feel better about themselves.”

Benefits equal about 30-40% of a county employee’s pay package, according to Abraham.