The Ellsworth County Courthouse will remain open by appointment only until Monday, May 18.

Ellsworth County commissioners unanimously approved a motion to continue the policy during Monday’s meeting with the county department heads.

The policy originally began March 18. Commissioners will revisit the policy again on May 18.

In other business:

♦ Carl Miller, county appraiser, said department heads don’t want to raise their budgets; however, employees are drastically underpaid.

“We went through this a year or year-and-a-half ago when they put in the newspaper (the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter) what the (Ellsworth) city employees were making,” Miller said. “We are like $10 an hour lower than they are. And we’re just across the street.”

Miller used an example from Stafford County that he is afraid might happen in Ellsworth County.

His employee in Stafford County (Miller is also the county appraiser there) is retiring. Miller has a list of good applicants, but after narrowing it down to the top two applicants, both turned the job down because of low wages.

Miller said he hired a person and is going through the training process.

“I’m going to tell you that in six months they will be higher than one of my employees that’s been here for 15 years and right on the back heels of somebody that has been here 35 years,” he said. “I think that’s bad. In the near future you are going to have this problem. How are you going to replace these employees that have all this experience? I’m just not talking about the appraiser’s office.”

Miller said he doesn’t want the county budget to increase and he doesn’t want taxes to go up.

“But at some point, you’re not going to find the employees to take these people’s place, who have given their lives to the county, who is not going to benefit from a decent salary,” he said. “They’re going to be gone — worked here 35 years, and I’m going to have to hire somebody on the heels of what they have left — what this new person is going to start at. What is fair or right about that?”

“Are you saying we should raise everybody $10 per hour,” Commissioner Kermit Rush asked.

“No,” replied Miller. “I just think there needs to be a plan in place, or something to get the employees back up to where they should be.”

Rush asked if the salary of every county employee was raised by $10, could each department head lower the amount of the funds they budget for operations.

“If you look at most of the budgets, what is the majority of the budgets,” Miller asked. “It’s probably payroll.”

“Does the city have the benefits we do,” asked Commissioner Dennis Rolfs. “Benefits make up for the biggest part of the salary anymore.”

Given all this, Rush asked Miller how the county keeps from raising taxes.

“To be honest with you, it (the mill levy) probably will go up,” Miller said.

“Do you want to come up here and sit in this damn chair,” Rush asked Miller.

“Do you want to sit in mine when I mail out the values,” Miller responded. “I would dare say I get a lot more phone calls than you do.”

“Yeah, you probably do,” Rush said.

Rush said he understood where Miller was coming from.

“So what is the answer — we’re not going to do anything — I don’t think that’s an answer,” Miller said.

“The job should pay what the job is,” Rolfs said. “Whether you’ve been there 30 years or you’ve been there two years. Yeah, there is a difference in knowledge and experience, but a job should pay what the job is.”

Rush told Miller and the department heads to figure into their budgets a 3 to 4 percent raise in employee salaries.

“We’ll take it into consideration,” Rush said.

• Teresa Shute, supervisor of the county landfill, received permission to hire her granddaughter as help at the county landfill.

“On Saturday’s the landfill is getting bombarded,” Shute said. “With one employee they can’t keep up.”

Shute said she would treat her granddaughter just like any other employee and not show any favoritism. The granddaughter will be trained by the other employees at the landfill, not by Shute.

“I am not going to be in direct contact with her,” Shute said.

Rush said the new employee will help the landfill handle the rush of customers.

“So what is the answer — we’re not going to do anything — I don’t think that’s an answer.”

Carl Miller

Appraiser