Proposed wage freeze gets cold shoulder in Chester County

A call by the Chester County Controller Valentino F. DiGiorgio 3d to freeze wage increases for county employees as a way to trim the 2009 budget doesn't appear to be gaining traction.

"This seems to me to be preferable to wholesale layoffs of county employees, who will find it hard going in the current job market if we were to institute layoffs," DiGiorgio said at a hearing Thursday night.

Eliminating a budgeted 3.75 percent raise would save the county $1.1 million, he said.

But yesterday, the commissioners seemed cool to the idea.

"It wouldn't impact unionized employees or grant-funded employees" whose raises are part of their contracts, said Democratic Commissioner Kathi Cozzone.

Her Republican colleague Terence Farrell made the same point. "It would be uncomfortable and neither appropriate or fair," he said.

The wage freeze was one of several recommendations made by DiGiorgio during a hearing on the $556.9 million spending plan that was held by the county commissioners Thursday evening in West Chester. About 80 residents and county employees filled historic Courtroom 1 in the county courthouse.

Officials said that a slowdown in the construction market resulted in decreasing revenues from property taxes, while at the same time the tanking stock market has forced them to drastically increase their mandated contribution to the county pension fund.

Still, if it were not for the $5.7 million increase in the pension-fund contribution to $13.2 million, there would be no tax increase for 2009, they said.

As it stands now, the budget calls for a 4 percent increase in the property tax. For a home assessed at the county average of $193,836, taxes would rise $31.21 from $737.35 this year to $768.56 next year.

So far officials have cut more than $7 million from the initial 2009 budget and now the politicians are stepping up to the plate.

Elected officials, such as the controller, the sheriff, the treasurer, and the clerk of courts have all agreed to freeze their salaries at $70,242.42.

The commissioners salaries are also frozen at $80,701.80, except for the chairman who earns an additional $1,000.

Teena Peters, the clerk of courts, whose office processes criminal matters, said that it would be tough on her employees if the proposed pay raise was eliminated.

"Many county employees have second jobs to make ends meet," she said. "Having their salaries frozen would probably be a hardship."

Still, residents at the budget hearing urged the commissioners to do more with less.

"The biggest single affront to my right to survive is the property tax," said Jerry Scheese of East Nottingham Township. "Find another way."

By law, the only tax the county can levy to fund its operations is the property tax. The personal property tax, which included a tax on stocks and bonds, was found unconstitutional several years ago.

The commissioners said they will continue to work on trimming the tax increase prior to adopting the budget on Dec. 4.