County Council Approves 2.8 Percent Raise

Dorchester County Council came out of executive session Nov. 21 and voted to give all county employees a 2.8 percent raise effective Jan. 1. 

The raise is possible due to savings from eliminating the county's retiree policy, according to County Administrator Jason Ward. 

Dorchester County Council voted to make the following changes to the retiree health and dental policy based upon the poll of county employees and as recommended by the administrator:

• Grandfather all current retirees (including those who have retired as of Dec. 31, 2011) and all employees with 10 or more years of service with the county. Based upon the administrator’s recommendation, grandfather all employees with at least 25 years of service as of Dec. 31 under the current retiree health and dental benefits policy. 
• All employees with 10 or fewer years of service and all new employees will not receive any retiree benefits. A pre-tax Post Employment Health Plan will be set up for those employees to set aside savings, which will come from the employee’s paycheck. The county will not contribute or match.  

The cuts in the retirement policy did not sit well with one Dorchester County Sheriff's employee, who requested council rethink its actions during public comments. 

"I have questions in reference as to why they're doing it and a lot of the questions are it seems like you're taking something away from employees ... I don't see the end game of what you're going to get from it," Capt. David Moore said prior to the announcement of the 2.8 percent raise. 

After Moore spoke, Council Chairman Larry Hargett said council would "take that under advisement."

At the conclusion of the meeting, council made the vote for the employee raise.