Seminole County Commissioners reject pay raise for all county employees, but boost minimum wage

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Seminole County’s Board of Commissioners voted against a three-percent raise for county employees at its regular meeting Tuesday morning.

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County employees were hoping to get a mid-year boost as inflation continues to rise across the country.

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On Tuesday, Commissioners said they were against the across-the-board pay raise for now but may still revisit the proposal.

However, commissioners did agree to increase the pay of the 133 county employees who now make less than 15 dollars an hour to at least that much.

The majority of employees hoping for some type of raise to help with inflation will have to wait for now.

“If it continues to go up, it sounds like we will be back here asking for another three, another four, another five, another six,” District 2 Commissioner Jay Zembower said during Tuesday’s meeting.

The discussion was back and forth, with some commissioners arguing they needed more information before approving the full three-percent raise.

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“I think it’s important that we have that compensation study before we talk about across the board increases,” District 3 Commissioner Lee Constantine said after the meeting. “There may be individual positions that we need to adjust.”

Constantine says the County Manager can adjust the salaries of incoming positions, but others felt employees need help now with rising costs at the pump and grocery store.

“We don’t have a widget to sell,” District 4 Commissioner Amy Lockhart said. “Our widget is our people, and the services that we provide, and our citizens are very very happy with the service that they receive.”

"We need to hire now:" Seminole Co. leaders reject employee raises despite need for more workers Seminole County leaders voted against a proposed pay increase for county workers Tuesday while noting the employee retention problem the low pay has caused. (Jeff Levkulich, WFTV.com/WFTV)

Lockhart says she’s concerned a potential loss of staff could lead to future cuts in county services.

“We’re having a hard time recruiting new employees and retaining our wonderful employees with the salaries that we’re offering. So this adjustment will help to recruit new employees and retain employees,” Lockhart said.

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As a compromise, Commissioner Constantine made the motion to change the starting minimum wage for the county to 15 dollars an hour.

“Clearly that 15 dollars may not be it, but that is the law to get there,” Constantine said. “We’re just moving it a little bit faster so that we know that each one of our employees is covered when it comes to that.”

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