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Several non-union workers walked out of Tuesday’s Luzerne County Council meeting in frustration when a council majority rejected a proposal to grant them raises.

County Manager Robert Lawton had asked the council for a budget transfer to use $146,530 in savings from bidding out inmate health care to fund raises the rest of this year for 119 non-union employees, pointing to an outside analysis concluding their compensation was below industry standards.

Non-union workers outside court branches have not received pay increases in seven years. The raises would cost about $900,000 in 2016, with about $300,000 covered by the state or other outside funding.

Prison Treatment Coordinator Grace Franks told the council she has continued to handle additional duties without an increase in her $35,000 pay the last four years.

“I’m overworked and underpaid, but I love my job,” she said.

However, Franks said she does not know how much longer she can afford to work for the county. She said she could make three times as much working in the private sector and has declined several outside job offers out of loyalty to the county and optimism the council will “do the right thing.”

Several employees Franks supervises make $25,000 more than her, she said.

County Chief Public Defender Steven Greenwald told the council he accepted his 14th resignation of an employee — over 33 percent of his staff resigned in less than three years — due to compensation concerns.

He cited an office manager who makes less than two or three of the seven secretaries he supervises and a chief investigator who performs the same work as a unionized county detective while receiving a significantly lower salary of $30,000 per year.

Greenwald said he and his colleagues understand and support council’s fiscal responsibility but said compensation problems must be addressed.

“The time is now. We need to compensate them appropriately,” Greenwald said.

James Bobeck, Rick Williams and Linda McClosky Houck were the only council members to support the budget transfer. Councilman Tim McGinley abstained, saying he will propose another option later this month to cut the proposed raises in half for now and provide increases to around 40 more non-union workers who weren’t singled out as underpaid in the outside compensation analysis.

Councilman Stephen A. Urban said the outside analysis was “flawed” because it did not wrap in time off and health insurance and other benefits.

Urban said the county must fund about 14 percent of wages toward guaranteed pensions for county employees, and the average cost of health insurance per employee has increased from around $6,000 in 2000 to at least $16,000 today, he said.

He said his private-sector employer of four years has not provided pay increases, and he and his coworkers are not off on several county government paid holidays, including Veterans Day, the day after Thanksgiving and Columbus Day.

Councilman Rick Morelli said he supports raises but believes the council would be “extremely irresponsible” approving them before learning the “big picture” condition of the 2016 county budget.

Lawton must submit a proposed 2016 budget Thursday under the home rule government charter. Lawton told council members the raises are their call and noted he won’t include them in the proposed budget if the budget transfer fails, leaving it up to them to find a solution if they want to add them.

Councilman Harry Haas agreed raises should be put on hold until the budget is discussed but said increases may be incorporated in the 2016 spending package. He acknowledged numerous employees with “a lot of institutional knowledge” have left.

Bobeck said the county’s new five-year financial recovery plan recommends adequate compensation for workers.

“It’s a no-brainer that should have been done years ago,” Bobeck said.

Among the other matters decided or discussed during Tuesday’s meeting, which ran for five hours:

• A council majority rejected Lawton’s request to use $35,000 from inmate health savings to create a new deputy manager position.

• Council members agreed to proceed with creation of an outside committee to recruit and select a new manager. Lawton is seeking positions elsewhere. The council did not vote to terminate Lawton — a move urged by three regular citizen meeting attendees.

Bobeck and Williams did not support advertising for the outside committee.

• County Children and Youth representatives said they have enacted a corrective plan in light of the state’s recent downgrading of the agency’s license to provisional status following a review stemming from the death of a child. State inspectors cited “serious concerns regarding agency practice as well as regulatory violations.”

Difficulty recruiting and retaining caseworkers may be addressed by increasing compensation, which will require union negotiation and the council’s approval, officials said.

• A council majority did not support a proposal to reduce the time for emergency responders to accept or reject a 911 call before the next one on a municipality’s list can be summoned, opting instead to continue monitoring and reporting response problems.

• The council agreed to forgive back taxes for five years on properties acquired and sold by the new blight-attacking North East Pennsylvania Land Bank Authority in the Pittston area. The authority also will have the power to block out competition from other buyers at free-and-clear tax auctions although the council required the opportunity to veto any planned use of this “trump bid.”

Councilwoman Kathy Dobash was the lone opponent, saying the authority should not have trump bid power in free-and-clear auctions.

Council rejects proposed increases

By Jennifer Learn-Andes

[email protected]

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.