[SIZE=5]OUR VIEW [/SIZE] [I][B][SIZE=5]County raises are out of touch with reality [/SIZE][/B][/I] William Pennington, finance director of the Clerk of Courts, told a reporter earlier this week top Walton County officials had ?received a 3 percent raise between 2006 and 2007, but added that percentage is much lower than the typical 7 to 10 percent yearly increase.? Where has he been? Oh yeah, working for the county, where I guess it is still practice to give out double-digit raises regardless of what the economy is doing. Contrary to what Mr. Pennington and other county officials might think, the average raise for all workers in the U.S. was something less than 4 percent. For many, there were no raises. And for millions, there aren?t even any jobs to be had at any rate of pay. We don?t begrudge anyone getting paid what he or she is worth or acknowledging exceptional work with a raise. However, when you consider it is tax money being spent to give officials pay raises of more than 20 percent over the last four years, it just seems a little fiscally irresponsible. The pay scale for county officials has come under scrutiny with the revelation that some have been receiving family health care coverage, a perk added by what some believe to be questionable means. It makes us wonder what other surprises are in store if we dig a little deeper. [COLOR=DarkRed]We congratulate the Walton County Taxpayers Association for bringing this matter to light. Our hope is it will continue its survey and share its results with the public.[/COLOR] Apparently such a review can?t come soon enough since some think 10 percent is still the norm for an annual raise.
