Whitman County workers ask for pay increase

Whitman County Public Works employees went before the county commissioners Monday to ask for a wage increase they say is overdue and will help the department hire and retain employees.

"There's been a storm brewing for quite a few years in public works," said Jeff Stehr, the District 1 Road Superintendent who led the presentation. "It's turned into a hurricane and that hurricane is about ready to make landfall and that's with the retention and attracting of new employees."

He said public works is asking for a $2 hourly raise to keep wages comparable with the employers drawing workers away from Whitman County.

Public works is responsible for tasks like road maintenance, building bridges, overseeing the landfill and inspecting buildings.

Stehr said from 2011-17, 55 people have been hired and left public works to find other jobs, and most of them cited low wages as the primary reason.

The highest rate of turnover belonged to employees who only worked there two years or less.

"And that's our problem," he said. "We can't keep people working."

He said public works used to receive around 10 applications when a job opened, and now is not even getting two to three applications. Stehr noted a landfill position that opened in January only recently got filled.

Most people who quit their jobs work for nearby entities like Washington State University, Spokane County, the Colfax city government, Washington State Department of Transportation or local farmers and businesses.

A starting wage for a Whitman County equipment operator, for example, is $18.27 an hour and tops out at $20.98. A starting hourly wage for the same position at Spokane County is $20.52, and WSU's is $21.17, according to documents handed out at Monday's meeting.

"At Whitman County, our wages top out about where everybody else starts," Stehr said.

Stehr said one reason for the discrepancy is a Whitman County market survey that compares Whitman County to other counties with similar populations, assessed value and general fund revenue.

The problem, he said, is that public works employees are not leaving their jobs to work for any of these counties, a list that includes Douglas, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, Stevens and Walla Walla.

"That's why we're asking you, shouldn't we compare to who we're competing with for jobs?" Stehr asked the commissioners.

Stehr also reminded the commissioners of a public works employee's considerable workload, which often means having to commute long distances and work outside at odd hours in adverse weather conditions like snow or summer heat.

Superintendents and supervisors do not get overtime pay, he said.

Stehr also said they do more with less by maintaining 1,897 miles of road with 28 operators, while Spokane County maintains 2,526 miles of road with 97 operators.

"So you're getting a pretty good bang for your buck with the people that are here," he said.

Stehr said the public works budget is funded by the state gas tax and the road levy, which he said sits at $1.43 per $1,000 of assessed value. He asked the commissioners to consider raising that levy to help pay for the wage increase. He also asked them to consider the amount of money public works has saved through voluntary reductions in the workforce - not filling jobs after someone quits or retires - which is estimated to be $400,000 per year.

Whitman County is also just one of two counties in the state that builds and inspects its own bridges rather than hiring a contractor, saving the county about $180,000 per year, according to documents.

Additionally, Stehr pointed out that transferring garbage to Spokane saved the county $500,000 per year.

He said while it may seem unreasonable to compare Whitman County to Spokane County, he said the significantly smaller Lincoln County pays its employees more than Spokane County.

While there was limited time for comments or questions from the commissioners during their regular weekly meeting, the commissioners thanked public works for putting together the presentation. Commissioner Michael Largent said it was one of the best presentations he has heard at a meeting in a long time.

"I just want to thank you guys for being so professional and so thorough," Largent said.

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at (208) 883-4640, or by email to akuipers@dnews.com.