By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE ó Despite a recession and a county hiring freeze, Rowan County department heads told commissioners Tuesday they need dozens more employees.
By the end of the first day of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners retreat at the Tadlock South Rowan Library, the 17 department heads had made a case for nearly 50 more employees.
Including salary and benefits, 50 new employees would cost the county an additional $2 million.
While some of the jobs would be in future years, others are needed now.
Sheriff George Wilhelm lavished praise on the current and former boards of commissioners for giving him great equipment and software that has greatly improved efficiency.
But Wilhelm said commissioners haven’t given him the staff he needs.
He estimated he would need 60 additional deputies to meet the national standard of 1.8 deputies per 1,000 residents.
“We have 80,000 citizens,” he said. “They deserve more.”
He said municipal annexation has helped by shrinking the county’s service area. But at a minimum, the sheriff said, he needs four more officers each year.
Other departments also requested additional employees in the short term.
Barbara McGuire, with Tax Administration, urged the board to hire a second in-house auditor to check commercial accounts. The county currently contracts with an outside auditor who gets one third of all discoveries, which can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
McGuire also asked for a second mapper and left the board agog with the revelation they currently pay a part-time mapper $3,500 a month for working a total of four days each month.
She noted that most counties the size of Rowan have between two and five full-time mappers.
Rob Robinson, director of the E-911 system, charted the growth in calls and the need for additional staffing.
He told commissioners the center is currently understaffed by two people per shift, or eight telecommunicators.
John Brindle, the county’s register of deeds, asked commissioners to let him fill one of two positions now caught in the hiring freeze.
Brindle said he has limited vacations, but if he is not able to fill one of the positions, employees won’t be able to take summer vacations as planned.
County Manager Gary Page noted the various requests, indicating he isn’t likely to recommend adding many new jobs, if any, in the next budget.
Page observed that none of the department heads mentioned salary increases.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254.