BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Tuesday’s Regular Session of the Raleigh County Commission was a brief but eventful affair, with the city budget and employee salaries being discussed at length.
Commission President Dave Tolliver led the proceedings, and announced early on in the meeting that each of the 57 deputies for Raleigh County would be receiving a $5,000 bonus.
“We have voted to give each deputy a $5000 bonus,” Tolliver revealed during the Tuesday morning session. “And the reason for this is to stay competitive with other counties and municipalities.”
This, according to Tolliver, is so that the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department will be able to remain competitive with other departments throughout the southern region of the Mountain State.
“As of July 1 we were down as one of the lowest paid departments in Southern West Virginia, including municipalities and counties,” he continued. “So the commissioners have agreed that this will be a $5,000 increase for 57 deputies.”
This $285,000 budget revision comes in addition to a $17,000 allocation also discussed during Tuesday’s session, which Tolliver disclosed would be going toward salaries for the Sheriff’s Tax Department.
These budget decisions come as a result of city departments having exercised caution with their funds throughout the year, according to Tolliver.
It was then revealed that employees of Raleigh County would be seeing a percentage increase in their annual salaries beginning with the next pay period. LOOTPRESS coverage on this announcement can be seen here.