Clearfield County Sets 2022 Salaries for Non-union Salaried Employees

CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Salary Board on Tuesday approved its 2022 salaries for non-union salaried employees.

The county previously approved multiple heath care benefit changes for these employees in late May.

Gidget Spencer, deputy prothonotary, and Judy Shirey, judicial secretary, spoke of the low employee morale before the vote.

“The majority of the employees – salaried or not – choose to work for the county specifically for the benefit package,” Spencer said.

“With today’s economy and inflation astronomically high, any change to salary/benefits has a huge impact on your employees and their families.

“… But you clearly have your decision made, a decision that will not be recovered from.”

Spencer continued saying that, “It’s going to make hiring future employees very difficult for the county.”

This has already become apparent with the number of employees leaving, Spencer said, and the inability to fill those positions.

“You will never be able to hire any experience, and these aren’t jobs that are easily trained.

“It’s very disappointing to realize the mentality of county government is to take as much as it can from its own employees.”

Spencer said a “more positive approach” would have been to invest in “your employees,” which is “investing directly into your county.”

Shirey has worked for the county since 1994, and in “all these years, I have not seen morale here so low.

“Many worked through two years of COVID with no days off, as their offices couldn’t function without being fully staffed.

“They stepped up. They kept their offices running through some very difficult times.”

Now Shirey said county government has lost so many qualified and hard-working employees because “they can’t afford to work here.

“Offices haven’t been able to replace them as qualified people won’t take positions, leaving the remaining employees to step up again.

“I only wish the money spent fighting and taking away from employees could’ve been used to maintain insurance and pay better wages.”

Commissioner John A. Sobel said the commissioners realize salaries are low but don’t have the luxuries of the private sector.

“If they incur costs, they pass them on to the consumer … unfortunately, the only choice we have is the taxpayer.

“Right now, inflation is higher than it’s been in 40 years and gas is averaging $5/gallon, etc., we just can’t pass a tax increase.

“Consumers normally have the choice to buy or not buy something. If taxpayers don’t pay their taxes, they lose their home.

“We don’t want to put any taxpayer in a position like that, and so we looked at the county’s rich health care plan.

“Our only choice – at this time – was to shift monies away from health care towards higher wages. It’s not the perfect system.”

Though salaries are low and more work needs done, Commissioner Dave Glass said the prior path wasn’t sustainable either.

“Having your health care costs higher than your salary costs for certain people, departments isn’t sustainable.”

Looking ahead Glass would like salary/benefit changes to offset, “but we’re not there yet – hopefully in another year or two.

“This is our first step.”

Controller Rob Edwards suggested the county have a salary/benefits study done, and offered to oversee it.

New employee salaries for 2022 are listed below and retroactive to the beginning of the year, or date of hire if it’s after Jan. 1.