Montgomery County elected officials decided to spend millions on raises for employees as part of next year's budget that begins in October.
The county is restructuring its employees pay scale, adding $1.5 million across the board as well as giving everyone a 3% raise that costs the county $600,000.
On top of these raises, the county is investing $1 million into raises for corrections officers to combat the shortage on staff members.
“It was hard to hire people and hard to keep people," Commission Chairman Doug Singleton said.
The budget will designate $1 million for new public safety vehicles and security equipment including new body cameras for deputies. The county has delegated money from the construction budget to put new roofs on county buildings Annex I and Annex II, while also replacing heating and air conditioning systems for parts of the jail.
In all, the county budget is rising to $144 million, an increase of $12 million from last year. Revenues are at $140 million. Officials are using special revenue funds at $3.8 million to offset the difference, which the commissioners do yearly.
Singleton called this increase ambitious but also noted that the commissioners have been responsible with taxpayer money.
“With the way inflation is today if you look at $12 million, that’s a big number. But if you factor in the inflation, it’s probably on par with what we’ve done in the past. Everything costs so much more than it used to cost," Singleton said.
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Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's public safety reporter. She can be reached at agladden@gannett.com or on Twitter @gladlyalex.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: How is the Montgomery County spending your tax money?