Monroe County Executive Adam Bello is ordering a 7% pay raise for key positions in the county’s social services and public safety departments.
During a news conference Friday, Bello said a review of salaries earlier this year showed the county’s pay was not competitive with the compensation offered by the state and other counties for similar positions. He said raising the workers’ pay is the county’s “moral obligation,” and that the bump comes on top of a two percent increase in wages as well as a $3,000 recruitment and retention payment.
“This is immoral, what we’ve been doing,” Bello said. “This county’s been underfunding the very people who are charged with protecting the most vulnerable people in our community. We can’t have that.”
The county’s Department of Human Services, and its Child Protective Services unit in particular, have struggled for years to fill vacancies. Some of the jobs require a long training period and, given the nature of the work, the burnout rate is high. In the Child Protective Services unit, the vacancy rate has been as high as 40%, Bello said.
Bello added that while many of these workers see their jobs as a calling, they still need to make liveable wages.
In recent months, county social services workers have spoken during Legislature meetings about the vacancies and their effects on workloads and morale.
"We're reaching a level of crisis in our vacancy rates right now,” Christina Christman, president of the union that represents county Department of Human Services employees, told legislators in August.
On Friday, Bello also announced that the county would be hiring a full-time recruiter to help fill the vacant positions. The county will also be waiving the fee for civil service exams as well as some residency requirements.
The county has also launched an ad campaign to reach potential recruits and a website, monroecounty.gov/makeadifference, that lists all open positions and provides direct links to apply.
