Lawrence County Council votes on new motion to include five percent pay increases for 2023 budget, new hearing set for Oct. 20th

LAWRENCE COUNTY – The Lawrence County Council met to adopt the 2023 Budget Thursday evening, which resulted in a new motion to the proposed pay raises for county employees and elected officials.

County Council members during the Thursday evening meeting. From left: Julie Chase, Rick Butterfield, Janie Chenault, Council President Scott Smith, Jeff Lytton, Julie Hewetson, and Mike Wright

On Tuesday, the council met in a special session to vote on pay raises to avoid going over budget for 2023. Following information shared by Lawrence County Sheriff Mike Branham, the council voted 4-2 to approve a five percent raise for the Sherriff’s Department, and three percent across the board for other departments.

Council member Janie Chenault took a moment before voting on the budget, to try and amend the vote from Tuesday’s meeting, with Julie Chase agreeing with the motion. Council attorney Katie Simon advised that within Robert’s Rules of Order, an amendment was not allowed, but a new motion to change the pay increase to five percent for all county employees could be done.

Those in attendance of Thursdays meeting

The council took a recess to determine if allowing the new motion would allow the council to advertise a new date for the budget adoption, while still having enough time to turn it into the state for adoption in 2023. Following the recess, it was determined that the council could vote on the new motion, and hold a new budget adoption hearing on Thursday, October 20th at 6 p.m.

The council voted 6-0 on five percent pay increases for all county employees and elected officials before recessing to the October 20th meeting.