The Warren County Commission this week approved a budget of about $30 million for 2022, including a 5-percent pay increase for county employees and elected officials, along with hikes to the base pay rate of a number of in-demand job positions.

“What we’re trying to do is retain our employees. That’s a challenge for not only this county, but for anywhere,” said Presiding Commissioner Joe Gildehaus. Between the sheriff’s department, the county road department, building maintenance, and administrative offices, Gildehaus said there’s a long list of unfilled job openings.

Recognizing that challenge, the commission voted to raise the base hourly pay rate of sheriff’s deputies to $23.50; jail officers to $18.50; clerical staff to $15 for full-time and $12.50 for part-time; and road crew workers to $18.

Gildehaus added that the money the county must spend to cover the cost of maintaining county facilities and completing road projects has also gone up. This is due to a combination of increasing material costs, aging buildings, and increased road usage.

“Our buildings are getting older and the traffic on our roads is getting heavier,” Gildehaus commented. “We have a roof we’re looking at, that’s going to be a quarter-million dollars. We have an HVAC system, we’re redoing a parking lot. We just ordered a backhoe for our road and bridge crew, and that’s a little over $400,000.”

But along with the increasing expenses, Gildehaus said the county’s sales tax revenues have been meeting projected income targets and going up over time. He commented that more people are doing their shopping locally, and that Warren County is beginning to draw more business from out-of-county residents who spend money and pay sales taxes here.

Also ballooning the county’s revenue and potential spending this year is about $5 million in federal grant funding the county is expecting to receive for public works projects, along with more than $3 million in federal COVID relief funding supplied by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Warren County’s regular operating expenses are split among numerous public services, facilities and road improvements projects. One of the largest shares each year goes to the county sheriff’s department, which this year has a budget of $6.3 million.

That’s followed by the general operating fund that pays for most of the county’s clerical and administrative offices, this year budgeted at about $5.8 million.

The other largest expense for the county each year is the road department, which has a $4.6 million budget in 2022 for staffing, equipment and road improvements.