Apr 8, 2003 By Paul Sunyak 5 min read

Fayette County Commissioner Ronald M. Nehls favors a pay boost for employees in the county’s largest union but says he must also consider the taxpayers who will ultimately foot the bill. Nehls says the 15 percent wage increase over three years proposed by the county offered those workers their largest percentage increase in more than 20 years, at an added payroll cost of $445,232. That offer was rejected by the union membership.

“I’m not confident that we can be fair to the taxpayers and to the employees, and go beyond 15 percent,” says Nehls, who adds that the county’s offer of a 5 percent salary increase in each of the next three years is generous when compared to the historic norm of 3 percent.

“The offer of 5-5-5- (in each year) is very fair in these economic times,” says Nehls. “There is also the fact that we have offered health care benefits at no cost to employees … We need to be prudent in our decision because of the taxpayer who ultimately foots the bill.”

In that regard, Nehls says he is concerned over the role Commission Chairman Vincent A. Vicites is apparently playing in the negotiation process. Nehls says it’s baffling to him that the county offered 14 percent over three years, the Service Employees International Union countered by asking for 16 percent, the county upped its offer to the 15 percent that was rejected – and now Vicites is advocating a 17-percent wage hike.

That kind of math just doesn’t add up to Nehls, particularly since the normally tight-fisted Vicites wants to give the union 1 percent more than it sought in its last request.

“Here we have Vince saying, ‘I’ll give you 17 percent.’ That makes no sense to me, especially when, at the beginning of the (bargaining) session, they only asked for 16 percent,” says Nehls. “That’s harmful to our management ability, in terms of being able to look out for the taxpayer as well as the employees of the bargaining unit.”

Vicites could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. But he had earlier stated a willingness to give the 17 percent, which he said would cost the county general fund only $15,000 more in 2004 and in 2005.

“They’ve been underpaid for decades. It’s about time we started being fair,” Vicites had said.

However, Nehls says the commissioners must look at the big picture – including the fact that the county’s three other employee unions as well as its nonunion management employees will look to this contract as a fiscal benchmark.

“This is not a time to toy with the emotions of the employees by using them as political pawns,” says Nehls. “And it is definitely not a time to toy with the money of the taxpayers in these economic times. Therefore, we, as commissioners, need to pay attention to all of the potential needs for the county as we make decisions regarding the cost of government.

“Commissioner Vicites has been talking with union employee representatives and encouraging them to think that a higher percentage of increase can be attained. My personal opinion is that it would be much better for all three commissioners to sit and discuss the issues and reach a consensus decision with the people we have hired to represent the county as a negotiator,” Nehls adds.

Nehls says that while he doesn’t want a work stoppage, he thinks the county has made a “very fair and generous offer” that has been rejected, making him “no longer confident that we can fairly represent the taxpayer and the other employees of the county by giving in to additional demands.”

Warren Hughes, county manager, says that in the last two SEIU contracts, covering years 1997 through 2002, wage increases averaged around 3 percent in each of those six years. “That’s why we budgeted 3 percent (increases) for 2003,” says Hughes.

In 1997 SEIU employees got a 25 cents-an-hour increase, with a $250 yearly minimum raise, says Hughes, who adds that another 25 cents per hour was granted in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, employees got 25 cents an hour in January and another 25 cents an hour in July, says Hughes, along with 30-cents-an-hour raises in 2001 and 2002.

Nehls says that the average Fayette County worker currently earns $23,585 per year, or $12.10 per hour. He says that a 15 percent increase would boost that hourly rate to $14, or by $1.90 per hour over a three-year period.

Further, Nehls says that if fair wages are the goal, he’s at a loss to understand why nonunion management employees haven’t received the full 3 percent pay raise recommended by a study performed last year by former county personnel consultant Felice Associates.

“And it was Vince (Vicites) who didn’t want to give them 3 percent the first year. He said to give them 1.5 percent last year and 1.5 percent this year,” says Nehls, who characterizes the Felice study as “so flawed there’s no way to defend it” to the nonunion employees.

Part of the bigger issue is that Fayette County has been in a “human resources management crisis” since he came into office in 1996, says Nehls, who adds that a special meeting the commissioners are holding on Wednesday morning will shed considerable light on problems in this area. The meeting will deal with findings by and recommendations from Select HR, the firm hired by Nehls and Commissioner Sean M. Cavanagh to serve as the county’s new personnel consultant. Vicites had supported retention of Felice.

Cavanagh also could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. But he’s previously stated that election-year politics have entered the SEIU contract negotiations. Cavanagh has also said that Select HR’s upcoming report will contain some eye-opening findings, justifying the change from Felice.