SWEETWATER COUNTY — The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners signaled support for a 2% cost-of-living increase effective Oct. 1, with a resolution expected to be on the board’s Oct. 6 agenda.

Commissioners worked from cost estimates showing a 2% adjustment applied over the remaining nine months of the fiscal year would cost about $442,890, while a 3% adjustment over the same period would cost about $664,335.

The board debated whether to make the raise retroactive or set an effective date going forward and ultimately favored an effective date.

Commissioners also debated whether to extend the raise to the county’s component units, such as Southwest Counseling Services, the library and the museum. 

“I don’t think that I support us writing additional checks to all the component units for that purpose, so if they can do it internally, I think I support that,” Commissioner Island Richards said.

Richards estimated that extending a 2% increase across component units would cost around $750,000 in addition to the county’s internal increases, not including Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County.  

“We definitely don’t have that much free cash sitting around,” Richards said.

Garry McLean, Sweetwater County Human Resource Director, said that it wouldn’t be as high as what Richards estimated.

“Whatever number we have, if you doubled that, it’d probably be a reasonable estimate,” McLean said. 

Commissioner Mary Thoman warned the board against repeating past practice, saying the county shouldn’t “get behind, like we did before, with the last commissioners, and then end up paying 6% trying to catch up.”

Chairman Keaton West directed McLean to prepare a resolution reflecting a 2% increase for county employees and cost estimates for component units that rely primarily on county funding, for consideration at the Oct. 6 meeting.

“The employees are what make the world go round,” McLean said.