Agency priorities, the flyer hanging everywhere talks about retention of employees, employees being the most valuable asset. As I ponder this I realize the only employees that are important are the brand new ones. These employees have been given the biggest raises, newest vehicles and upon speaking to coworkers it all makes sense. Everything to keep the new deputies from leaving for better paying jobs elsewhere.

As I complete my 22 year here they know people in my position aren’t going to leave. Sad but true we aren’t going to jump ship as it would not be financially advantageous to us.

I guess I should be happy for a half percent pay raise. The national inflation rate was 5.3 in August so I’m only behind 5.25 . If you take the 2.5 percent increase in the starting pay in comparison to the .5 percent increase I received it did nothing but compress me 2 more percent. I thought everything financially was going to fix compression not add to it. In closing it’s apparent that being a long serving employee doesn’t count for anything anymore. They are counting on the most experienced portion of the work force to remain silent and be happy with that half percent pay increase. In fact they should keep that half percent as it is an insult to all who have faithfully worked here for over 15 years. You are not the most valuable asset unfortunately.