Orange County mayor pushes for employee raises

Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs is pushing for a pay raise for county employees. If approved, they would get a 3 percent boost in their pay.

But as WFTV's Mary Nguyen reports, some county leaders are worried the move could end up hurting the county.

Jacobs said the county has a healthy budget and can afford to give its workers raises. Comptroller Martha Haynie said it is a step in the right direction because employees haven't received raises in three years.

"If we are able to do it, then we want to be able to give those in my opinion very hardworking county employees a little bit of a raise," said Haynie.

The mayor said she also believes it's time to give employees more money because a recent state mandate requires all employees to contribute 3 percent to their retirement plans, and health insurance costs have gone up.

Commissioner Fred Brummer said he disagrees with the mayor's proposal. As a CPA, he said the private sector is not handing out raises.

"In my clients' and my business, we are seeing no increases in salaries. Business is still tough out there," Brummer said.

If the mayor gives 3 percent raises, that would be equivalent to $12 million. But Orange County could soon have to pay out exactly $12 million.

A group of state employees are suing the state to reverse the 3 percent contribution state employees contributed to retirement plans last year.

Brummer is worried that if the state loses, the county will have to reimburse employees the money they've already put into the retirement system, which for Orange County equals $12 million.

"We would have to go back and make that up to our employees -- $12 million we don't have right now," Brummer said.