By Alan Mauldin
The Albany Herald
ALBANY, Ga. – The Dougherty County Commission took care of Christmas gifts in the form of lump-sum payments for employees on Monday and made a New Year’s resolution to explore salary increases in next year’s budget.
Along with unanimously approving the lump-sum payments to employees, commissioners also unanimously approved bigger paychecks and bonuses to first responders at Dougherty County Emergency Medical Services.
The commission took action on EMS salaries a week after agency Director Sam Allen reported that nearly 20 emergency personnel departed this year. All but two of them left to work with other public or private ambulance services.
Currently, the EMS is short 11 full-time and 22 part-time positions, Alen said during an interview following the meeting.
During 2024, “we lost 18, (with) 90 years of experience,” he said. “They’re going to other places where the (pay) is competitive. We’re competing with private ambulance services, hospital-based ambulance services and other agencies.”
Since the commission took up the issue a week earlier, the director said, several employees who left have expressed interest in returning to work in Dougherty County.
“Two out of the three are really serious, which is good,” he said. “We can put them back on the truck immediately.”
Commissioners voted to boost starting pay to $24.50 immediately, up from $20.77. Four supervisors and one training officer would receive pay increases of $2.50 per hour. In addition, employees who left within the past six months and return before the end of the year will receive the lump-sum distributions also approved by the commission.
Paramedics also will qualify for bonuses that would be paid over a two-year period and depend on positive evaluations over that time period.
The cost of the salary increases is estimated to be $277,743 for the remainder of the current fiscal year, which runs through June 30. The other option presented would have increased hourly pay for starting ambulance personnel to $24 per hour, with an estimated price tag of $259,183.
“The board has done an excellent job in looking at the situation, realizing the critical staffing situation and fully committing to getting up to staff, and I say thank you to the board and Mr. (County Administrator Deron) King .” Allen said.
In reaching the $24.50 figure, county staff looked at the starting pay of other agencies, including Lee County with a starting salary of $21 per hour and the $24.50 hourly pay in Lowndes County, both of which have been destinations of former Dougherty County employees. In addition, the privately owned ambulance services have starting salaries of as much as $26 per hour and also pay $10,000 sign-up bonuses as well as extra pay based on experience.
The commission’s action will ensure that response time, which had not yet suffered with the departures, remains at current levels, King said.
During the discussion on the issue, Commissioner Victor Edwards said that other employees are being left out.
“My whole thing is there are some employees who just came back to the county,” he said. “We are not going to compensate these employees, but we are EMS. That’s where I am. I would (say) they should be included also.”
Responding to Edwards’ comments, Commissioner Clinton Johnson said that other employees would be taken care of with the lump-sum distributions that were approved later during the meeting.
“This is an emergency situation,” Commissioner Ed Newsome said. “The other part can be handled later on.”
The lump-sum distributions that were approved are $500 for part-time and $1,000 for full-time employees and are set to be paid before Christmas. Those distributions have an estimated cost of about $700,000, the bulk of which will come from the county’s general fund.
In addition, county staff will look at permanent raises for employees as it plans for the 2025-2026 budget year, which begins on July 1.
“We’re going to take a holistic look at our pay scale,” he said during an interview following the meeting. “The goal is to provide for annual cost-of-living adjustments. This is one of the things we want to make sure we address.”
(c)2024 The Albany Herald, Ga.
Visit The Albany Herald, Ga. at www.albanyherald.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
