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PARKERSBURG -- County officials are looking to increase pay for their employees as the Wood County Commission begins hearing budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year.
Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure, Wood County Assessor David Nohe, Wood County Circuit Clerk Celeste Ridgway, Wood County 911 Director Mike Shook and Wood County Sheriff Rick Woodyard appeared before the commission Monday to make their budget requests for the 2024-25 fiscal year as the commission begins the process of putting together their next budget.
Lefebure said his office handles around 4,000 misdemeanor defendants a year and around 1,000 felony cases a year and of those 300-400 are indicted in Wood County Circuit Court.
"Realistically, crime doesn't stop," he said. "We are extremely busy."
He is asking for a 7% raise in salaries for the people in his office for the work they do as well as the increase in the cost-of-living costs.
"We realize the commission has many people coming with their hand out," he said. "I hope you would recognize the hard work my office does."
Lefebure said he appreciates the commission's support in allowing the replacement office manager to come in early and train with the retiring manager so the transition went a lot easier on everyone.
Lefebure is asking for consideration with the opioid settlement money to be able to hire an assistant prosecutor for three years or so who would specifically work on drug cases and work directly with the Narcotics Task Force.
"That is something we would like to utilize," Lefebure said. "There are many people in our community who need help."
He wants to be able to put the people in prison who need to be there (dealers and so on) and help the ones who could benefit from treatment programs.
"Having someone focused on that ... would be beneficial for us," the prosecutor said.
He wants to bring in someone who already has a lot of experience in dealing with those cases. He would like to hire someone at $80,000 a year (not including benefits).
"We need that experience to balance who needs help, who needs a chance and who needs to go to prison," Lefebure said.
Nohe said he left his budget the same as the previous year, except for salaries and benefits. They have put in a 7 % increase in salaries.
"Everything else is pretty much exactly the same," he said.
Nohe said they do not have the staff size that other counties of comparable size have, but said it is just the way Wood County has always operated, utilizing their people in the best ways they can. He is planning to use part-time help to fill in some of the work he needs done.
Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said how they are operating is good as if they overstaff, they have people bumping into each other.
"I think you are more efficient if you are right on the line," he said.
Nohe commended his staff for the number of times they were able to work out various complaints before it would reach the commission sitting as the Board of Equalization and Review. They had the sale of the former McKinley School appear before the commission, but they were still able to work it out.
Officials said they are continuing to see insurance costs increase, whether they have a low number of claims or not.
Ridgway said her needs also deal with the pay scale for her employees.
"I still believe my office is still one of the lowest paid for employees in the county," she said.
She has lost people to other offices due to wages, saying her office seems like a training ground for other offices.
Colombo said the commission has made efforts to bring the lowest paid employees up in pay. He also commended Ridgway for the improvements she has made in that office.
Ridgway acknowledges these concerns are probably representative of many offices across the state.
"It is tough and we are trying to compete," she said.
She is requesting raises for her 11 employees.
"Whatever you see fit to do, by all means," she said.
Shook is also asking for a 5% raise for his people.
He has lost six full-time dispatchers (each with an average of 9.6 years experience) to Washington County due to higher wages which is around $5,000-$6,000 more a year. Currently, they have 21 full-time dispatchers with an average of 3.9 years. He will have a couple of retirements in the next couple of years.
"They are working pretty hard out there," he said.
He currently has two openings. Shook described being a 911 dispatcher as a "calling" because it takes a certain type of person to be able to do the work and the stress that can come with it.
Woodyard is also shuffling around people to fill needed positions. He is asking for a 5% increase in pay.
Other departments in the area are increasing pay, he said of the need for them to remain competitive.
He does want to hire a new IT person to be able to come in and do their systems before one of the current people retires as their office has over 300 pieces of equipment they work with daily.
With moving people around and making new hires, he will have two positions open. He wants to take the money for those positions (possibly a third) to be able to fund raises for the deputies as well as meet requirements for a grant that would allow him to make another hire.
Woodyard also asked for a portion of the opioid settlement money to be able to hire someone.
The department is also seeing an increase in uniform expenses and travel expenses to put everyone sergeant and above through supervisor's school. They also need new bulletproof vests and more.
Colombo said he is aware and the commission gave raises to the deputies a couple of years ago, but acknowledges it did not get them to where they needed to be.
"We have done what we could do when we could," he said.
Commissioners said they will continue to take in requests and consider what they are able to do.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com