MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. (KY3) - The Baxter County Quorum Court approved an amendment to a personnel policy increasing benefits for all county employees.
The county already implemented a raise for all county employees starting in 2022. The leaders decided to extend benefits originally intended for sheriffs deputies and jailers in the county.
The discussion hinged on a concern employees should be treated equally and receive the same amount of benefits, including leave and vacation time.
“So what we proposed in our original budget was a $1 an hour increase across the board,” explained Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass. “This process then started when the sheriff decided to double down on that for his deputies and jailers.”
One month ago, the Baxter County Quorum Court voted to remove deputies and jailers from the county pay scale to give them larger benefits and pay increases. A decision to help the county compete with local law enforcement agencies.
”We’re the training ground for the other local law enforcement,” said Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery. “So, we have lost numerous officers over the years who worked for us, but would then would go to Gassville or Mountain Home just because it was a $5,000 or $6,000 pay raise just to walk across the street.”
Although approved unanimously without one council member present, some members of the court question the policy’s legality.
”Yes we have become a feeder system, but we’re a feeder system across several departments,”...
Community Notes, which allows users to contribute notes that add context or corrections to posts, was introduced by X in late 2022 and the same model is increasingly being adopted by other tech pl...