Interim CEO proposes pay raise for county employees in DeKalb budget

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County official's suggestion to give every county employee a raise is not going over well.
 
Interim CEO Lee May proposed the increases in pay in his 2014 budget. May wants all employees to get a 3 percent bump.
 
"They haven't received a raise in the last seven years," he said.
 
Channel 2's Erica Byfield spent time with a few sanitation workers on Friday. Byfield later learned an average sanitation employee makes $22,680.
 
If the Board of Commissioners approves May's proposal, those workers would earn and extra $680.40 per year.
 
Several DeKalb commissioners think May needs to rethink his plan. 

"We really have to be careful, our income isn't growing and we have to make sure our expense don't grow out of control," said Commissioner Jeff Rader.
 
May said the change in pay would be effective July 1.
 
The interim CEO told Byfield the county will be able to give the workers the extra money without increasing taxes.
 
May said when his office closed the books for 2013 budget they were able to carry over an additional 13 million dollars.  He plans to use $3.3 million of that money to pay for the pay raises.
 
"We really believe this is needed for morale sake to really get peoples spirits up they have been working hard for us in DeKalb County," said May.
 
The Board of Commissioners should vote on the budget Feb. 27.

WSBTV