Humphrey:County Looking At Employee Raises

Laramie County Commissioner Diane Humphrey says the commission is looking at possible raises for county employees as it works on a budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which starts July1.

Humphrey says the county's overall financial outlook is the best it has been in several years. She says that although the county doesn't have large amounts of surplus cash to spend, the conservative fiscal policies the commission has followed for the last several years have contributed to a brighter fiscal outlook than has been the case in recent years. Humphrey notes part of that conservative approach to spending has been a lack of employee raises over the last four years.

But she says the lack of raises is beginning to create a situation where long term employees and new workers are making virtually the same amount of money. "We cant have that, it just isn't right" Humphrey says. She adds the county has hired a company to study the county wage structure and make recommendations. on possible changes.

But even so, Humphrey says the commission probably won't know for another month or so whether it can include raises in the budget and if so, how large they might be.