Juab County elected officials and employees will not get a raise in pay this year.
Juab County commissioners sharpened their pencils and spent a morning listening to the requests of county department heads as they tried to trim the requests to fit the projected budget.The upshot is that there are more requests than money, and some items will have to go on a back burner and wait for another year.
Dave Cloward, independent auditor, and Pat Greenwood, county clerk and auditor, had gathered proposals from all the department heads. Commissioners then talked to each department head in the special work session before trimming the requests.
Final budget hearing will be held on Dec. 20 in the afternoon, decided commissioners.
Juab County Sheriff Dave Carter had requested several new employees who will be needed to man the county jail when it opens next November."It will take two people to run the jail on each shift," said Carter.
One person can run the old jail, he said. The dispatcher often serves as dispatcher and jailer. That will not be possible when the new public safety building opens.
Carter said the minimum amount of new employees he could get by with would be five. The department already employs five people.
Cloward agreed the manpower would be needed. "He will need 9.27 employees to cover the shifts," said Cloward.
However, commissioners agreed the budget will not handle that many new employees in the department.
Commissioners decided to allow the hiring of three new employees during the fall to get those employees trained and ready.
The budget will not allow employee and department-head wage increases next year, either, agreed commissioners. In the 1993 budget, a wage increase amounting to approximately $60 per month was added. But no new increases can come in 1994.
"We are very short in 1994. Very, very short," said Ike Lunt, commission chairman. "I would have liked to have $30,000 for wage increases."
Norm Anderson, county assessor, said he needs another person in his department to help with the survey work that needs to be done to meet state mandates.
The new land classifications are needed for a new land valuation book being produced by the state.