Pitt County and City of Greenville propose raises for employees in 2023-2024 budgets

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - The topic of raises is on the docket for employees in one area here in the East, but for the city and the county, they won’t be received at the same rate.

The Pitt County Board of Commissioners and Greenville City Council will both be meeting this week to discuss their respective 2023-2024 budgets, and both are hoping to get raises approved for their staff.

Greenville City Council will have a public hearing Monday about the city’s proposed 2023-2024 budget, with a vote likely expected on Thursday.

The city’s budget, coming in at $160.5 million, includes a 2% employee wage increase which officials say could help fill open positions.

“We are certainly hopeful that higher wages will help us in recruiting and retaining talent, but we recognize that other factors such as working conditions and benefits also factor greatly into an individual’s decision to work somewhere or not,” Greenville Communications Manager Brock Letchworth said.

Each year the city of Greenville and Greenville Utilities Commission Joint Pay and Benefits Committee meets to consider salaries and the Pitt County Board of Commissioners does the same.

For employees of the county, a 6% cost of living adjustment is up for debate at a public hearing on Tuesday.

“For our employees who are managing the impacts of inflation and the cost of living this will help them in helping to meet some of those challenges it also shows our workforce that we appreciate and value the services that they provide,” Janis Gallagher, Pitt County County Manager said.

There is a specific reason why the proposed 6% county raises are higher than those for employees of the City of Greenville’s 2%.

“The city did a true-up study earlier in the year and they made many adjustments to salaries already in this fiscal year. so not everybody in the city got an increase but a lot of people did. We did not do a separate compensation study with a true-up so I would fully expect the city’s cost of living after their true-up to be significantly less than the counties because we didn’t do that true up” Gallagher said.

The proposed general fund budget for Pitt County is $227.4 million while the City of Greenville is looking at a $160.5 million-dollar proposed budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Greenville City Council is set to meet at 6:00 p.m. today for a public hearing, with a vote expected on Thursday.

The Pitt County Board of Commissioners will meet for a public hearing Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. for their budget, and if approved Gallagher says that any cost of living adjustment that is adopted would go into effect July 1st.

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