Shawano County Board Chairman Tom Kautza voted no and Supervisor Heather Pahl abstained on a resolution to give county employees a 2% pay raise effective Oct. 1.
“This would raise the wages 2% before the end of the year, and then along in the budget, there’s also a 3% increase for next year, plus everybody who gets a good review gets another step added on, which is 2½%,” Kautza said at the Sept. 24 county board meeting. “I believe this should all be looked at together. We’re looking at a total pay raise of 7½%.”
Supervisor Tess Serrano has been a longtime proponent of the pay raise.
“We need to remember that we are here to serve the employees of Shawano County, and I don’t think they were properly compensated for the last 15 years, despite the numerous studies that have taken place,” she said. “The raises were never approved by this board. Now, we’re in dire straits. We’re losing people left and right, and we need to bring more people into Shawano County to be employees, and this is the way to do it to get them the raise that they need.”
Supervisor Kathy Luebke agreed.
“We are still going to be behind surrounding communities that are taking our employees right now,” she said.
The 2% reflects an adjustment to the pay scale plan approved in 2023 on the recommendation of Carlson Dettmann Consulting.
A review of the pay scale based upon market conditions and other factors is supposed to be conducted annually by the executive committee, with any resulting revision to the pay structure to be approved by the county board.
This pay raise was proposed to support employee retention, acknowledge workforce contributions and align salaries with market conditions.
Raises will be funded through salary savings resulting from staff turnover, vacancies and related factors.
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