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Employee Compensation <br /> Frank Clifton said that this is a budget driver that has not been quantified, but an issue across <br /> all of the departments of the County is employee compensation. As they are interviewing and <br /> attempting to fill vacant positions, they are experiencing difficulty obtaining and maintaining <br /> employees due to the constriction of employee compensation. County employees have done <br /> an outstanding job of responding to increased demand for county services, provided by a <br /> smaller workforce, under difficult conditions. Staff will try to address this issue as they <br /> formulate the FY2012-13 budget. <br /> He said that others are proposing salary increases and thus they would like to propose a <br /> salary increase for all employees and they will bring this back to the County Commissioners as <br /> part of the budget process. <br /> Commissioner Gordon asked if the Emergency Services work group would be coming forth <br /> with recommendations and if this was a placeholder. Staff said that this is a little of both. <br /> Frank Clifton said that they need to add another ambulance on the roads and to increase the <br /> number of dispatchers. <br /> Frank Clifton said that if the County is going to stay as it has been in the past three years, the <br /> Board of County Commissioners will need to make some decisions since they have not raised <br /> taxes in the past three years. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz said that he would like to see a budget that does not require a tax <br /> increase. <br /> Chair Pelissier said that the Board needs to assess first what it wants to accomplish and she <br /> does not want to say no at this time. <br /> Commissioner Foushee said that she would like to see variations — no tax increase, a two-cent <br /> increase, and a five-cent tax increase. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said that this discussion is premature and they have not even met with <br /> the schools yet. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that the County Commissioners need to consider what would be <br /> the difference with different types of tax increases. Without committing, she would like to at <br /> least look at the different variations of tax increases as Commissioner Foushee suggested. <br /> Commissioner McKee said that the County Commissioners need more information before <br /> making any commitments. <br /> Frank Clifton said that their intention is to bring the County Commissioners a budget with no <br /> tax increase for basic services and the Board can add in items as they see fit. <br />