Politics & Government

County Employees Ask Supervisors For Salary Adjustment

Employee organizations face third year of frozen salaries in proposed fiscal year 2012 budget

Fairfax County employees say they’ve been “partners at the table” as the Board of Supervisors have navigated two difficult economic years. But with improved economic activity — including a projected $30 million budget surplus – it’s time for the board to honor those efforts by investing in its workforce, they said.

“In [those two years] we lost nearly 500 positions and reduced and cut services, yet we increased our workload for employees that were here,” said Anita Baker, chairwoman of the Fairfax County Employees Advisory Council. “We get it and we’ve been very patient, but some type of increase needs to take place.”

 Speakers from the EAC, which represents all county employees, and Fairfax County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics headlined the third and final Thursday. Fifty-two speakers and their supporters filled the Fairfax County Government Center hearing room, many of them speaking on behalf of county employees or social services.

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Among the requests made by the groups were market rate adjustments for salaries for all county employees; changing the retiree benefit policy to allow former county employees to re-enter its healthcare system; and continuing employee and employer contributions to the county’s defined benefits plan.

County Executive Anthony H. Griffin proposed a budget earlier this spring that included a third straight year of frozen salaries for all county employees. Fairfax County Public School Superintendent Jack Dale 

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, Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said she was worried about how a raise for school employees, but not for other employees of the county, would affect morale.

Baker said there are about 12,000 county employees. EAC proposed a market rate adjustment of 1.14 percent, on the average county salary of $57,000, which would give every employee an average increase of $640 a year. It doesn’t seem like much, Baker said, but it would pay for about three gallons of gas a week — a significant contribution for a workforce largely composed of commuters.

Baker also stressed the importance of continuing contributions to retirement plans, which she called the “No. 1 retention incentive that keep people here for a career.”

“Tenured employees gain institutional knowledge that would never be obtained if we had a large turnover,” she said. “Long-term employees are what make good services.”

John Niemiec, president of the Fairfaxs County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics, said its members — firefighters, paramedics, 911 operators and  apparatus operators — provide an invaluable service to county residents, and that the board should consider that service in their budget priorities.

Niemiec specifically requested the county re-evaluate its policy about retired employees re-entering the county’s healthcare system. Currently, if a former county employee leaves the system, they cannot re-enter it later — a departure from the policies of neighboring jurisdictions.

County staff said the policy had been in discussion at some point this year, and that a one-time re-entry for county employees could be under consideration. Mt. Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland requested discussion of the policy be added to an upcoming agenda.

The FY 2012 Board Budget Mark-up begins at 10 a.m. April 12. The board will approve its transfer to FCPS, and formally adopt the county-wide budget, at 10:30 a.m. April 26.


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