Lehigh County is currently hiring 911 dispatchers at a starting salary of $42,016. That's $20.20 per hour. With shift differential and OT, it's more.
Northampton County is currently hiring 911 dispatchers at a starting annual salary of $36,355. That's $17.48 per hour.
If you can do the same job in either county, why on earth would you work at one that pays $6,000 less per year?
This is why NorCo is unable to keep 911 dispatchers ... and corrections officers ... and nurses ... and clerks.
This needs to change. Current pay is very unfair to NorCo workers.
41 comments:
Let them eat cake.
Perhaps it's based on call volume? It seems kind of low in both places.
Don't know about the clerks and the correction officers but no raise for the e911 dispatchers. I spoke to a few county people about their BS hiring. Even gave some examples. They ignore tests and only hire their buddies out there. If HR would investigate and fix the problem but until then no way. It is our incest out there when it comes to employees. They pick friends, relatives and other buddies from fire dept.'s and such. Sorry they make what they deserve until their act is cleaned up. County Council should investigate.
Alas, Northampton County will never be as great as Lehigh County.
Norco kept Amber Butz after she admitted under oath in the Tidd trial to stealing from the district court she worked in before her hire as a dispatcher. Transcript is public record.
Well, there are several reasons why someone would work for less, maybe it is closer to home, maybe it is a better work environment, maybe there are better benefits, maybe they are not hiring in lehigh county. Were did the idea come from that all must be paid the same. If they cannot find workers they may have to pay more.That is that old fashioned idea of a marketplace. The biggest problem for employers is finding workers that can pass a drug test and do not have a criminal record.
Both counties are currently hiring right now. This is why the issue is pertinent. A simple online web search reveals this. It is a well-known fact by anyone who has been around the emergency services community in the Northampton County area for more than a week's time that Northampton County Emergency Management, as evidenced by its name, does not care about the 90% of its day-to-day business, which is 911 Operations, but rather about the other 10%, which consists of Emergency Management. They are two distinct entities. They own all kinds of expensive equipment for the emergency management end that is seldom used yet do not pay people on the 911 dispatch end, which is constantly used?? Just a simple peek around their website will give you a clue about their priorities - that is what I am seeing from my desk. I am a local emergency services provider and have been for a long time.
Wasn't McLure going to correct this?
I know at the prison we have people leaving us to go to Lehigh. One person did it after 2 years of employment and still got more money to start
Thank you Bernie for addressing this! Now McClure needs to address it. You get what you pay for in most instances. You want the employees to work and care about the work, pay them for what they do! Just like you do for your cabinet!
And do with a 2019 budget amendment NOT next year's budget!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
everything changed in Northampton County when the Republicans took over. Yes I mean the County Executive and the County Council. They screw the employees every chance they get. Reibman and Stoffa never corrected the inequities and BROWNSTAIN expanded the discrimination against employees while all of us suffer. We will never get to the top of our wage scale because it is designed to shaft the employees. McClure can change things but he doesn't appear to be too aggressive. Why doesn't the County look at doing a wage comparison for the area. If we are paid too much, cut our wages, if we aren't paid enough, raise our wages to make us competitive.
Make sure you adjust increases so the employees that you didn't give step increases for get adjusted accordingly --- that means two steps!!!
Maybe Lehigh County is overpaying. Taxpayers in Lehigh should be the ones concerned.
8:39, do you really want to skimp on 911 dispatchers? That seems ill-advised.
Perhaps it's based on call volume?
No. The difference has to do with the benefit package (health insurance and pensions, etc) The main driver is healthcare. In Lehigh County the employees pay for a percentage of their health benefit cost. In Northampton County they pay a percentage of their salary toward health insurance.
So generally the Lehigh County employee with the higher salary is contributing more toward their benefits, while the lower salary in Northampton contributes less.
You need to compare both the salaries and benefit structures.
"Norco kept Amber Butz after she admitted under oath in the Tidd trial to stealing from the district court she worked in before her hire as a dispatcher. Transcript is public record."
I recall borrowing, not theft. I recall fraud in medical claims, not theft. If this is true, and I will check, she should be fired. if she is not fired bc administrators already took action, the court administrators responsible should be fired or whatever judge is behind this exposed. There should be zero tolerance always for theft.
I pay $1.65 a month per phone line , I have 2 that is $3.30 a month, x phones in county probably around 200,000 looks like around $660,000 per month per county.So where is all the money going, Where else are they diverting the 911 money.
As long as you can fill the vacancy with competent people at the wage you want to pay why pay more?
@ 8:30 AM - The first inequity that needs to change is the RIDICULOUS salary that the Clerk to Council makes. She is not Frank Flisser with the wealth of knowledge nor years in. Along with Peg Ferraro's daughter $20,000 pay increase by her mother. Know you like her Bernie but all she does is make personal phone calls most of the day. Council gave them the salary and Council needs to correct this or they will be out of a job come election time. People are voting now because they are tired of the BS.
"Thank you Bernie for addressing this! Now McClure needs to address it. You get what you pay for in most instances. You want the employees to work and care about the work, pay them for what they do! Just like you do for your cabinet!"
Bingo. I get the importance of restoring critical human services for our children and elderly. That has been McClure's priority in his first year, and I think most county workers are understanding on that point. But their needs are very real and have been too long ignored. It is time to start compensating them appropriately.
" Along with Peg Ferraro's daughter $20,000 pay increas"
If anything, this employee is vastly underpaid. She is a CPA who has made numerous changes that have saved the county all kinds of money. Both Barron and his two predecessors speak very highly of her. She knows money and ,if anything, is underpaid. You obviously don't.
I hate when people get like this. Instead of standing up for what they think they should be getting paid, they slam others. That is so foolish.
Hello, Bernie, I can help you with this. After all, I was there! On cross examination, Amber Butz was indirectly accused of stealing from petty cash while employed at my former court. She denied the implication with a simple "no" when asked what she told me when I asked her if she did it. The issue arose as it went to her bias as a witness. The bias would have come from the fact that I even considered her as a suspect in the theft and questioned her about it.
The whole story is as follows: Late in my tenure, Diane Kale was in charge of petty cash; she alone - not even I - had access to it. She informed me one day that she had been putting her own money in totaling $90 to cover a number of shortages she could not explain. If I remember correctly, she told me in the presence of Brenda Anthony, Amber's mother. Brenda proceeded to immediately blame Amber. I met with Amber privately and she strenuously denied taking any money. I had my suspicions about Amber's involvement as she was seemingly always in a financial bind. In fact, I had loaned her money on 2 occasions prior to the petty cash issue. Nonetheless, she denied the theft.
Anyway, I gave Diane Kale $90 of my own money as I believed she had nothing to do with it and I didn't think she should be out the money. I could afford that sense of fairness in those days. Nevertheless, I penned a long letter explaining the situation to Debra French, which was presumably forwarded to then President Judge Baratta. To the best of my knowledge nothing was ever done. I was never questioned about it and the mandatory audit that occurs after any petty cash issue in any district court never took place. All I know for sure is I'm still out 90 bucks!
Hope you're well.
David
Thanks for the clarification, Judge. I wish you were still here. As you know, this is no basis from which to conclude anything other than there was a shortage.
"As long as you can fill the vacancy with competent people at the wage you want to pay why pay more?"
That's the problem. People quickly leave. That is a problem at the jail, Gracedale, 911 and in many departments. The county needs to wake up and start paying the people who work here a living wage, instead of just passing ordinances requiring a living wage on county construction. Assessment is looking for someone at $27k. No one wants the job bc Lehigh pays much more. Unverified reports are as high as $42k. So No, the county is unable to fill vacancies with competent people bc they wise up and leave.
"No. The difference has to do with the benefit package (health insurance and pensions, etc) The main driver is healthcare. In Lehigh County the employees pay for a percentage of their health benefit cost. In Northampton County they pay a percentage of their salary toward health insurance."
I smell bullshit. If this were true, 911 operators would not be leaving NorCo for the same job at Lehigh, and they are.
Well I never thought I would agree with you on something, but this one is dead on. You are right. Norco pays crap. Especially in the nursing field. They go thru nurses at Gracedale at an unbelievable pace. LPN's doing RN work and getting .50 cents an hour more is a joke. RN's covering two or three floors on a shift and The county is getting away this and unfortunately the Union does not fight it. It all boils down to responsibility. Why should an LPN have the same amount of responsibility as an RN, risk their license if a mistake is made, do the same amount of work and only get .50 cents more an hour? The RN's are getting paid $5-$6 dollars more an hour. It is like a revolving door with LPN's, aids and RN's. The County spends the time and money to train them for another job. Wake up NORTHAMPTON COUNTY and smell the roses! You have a great facility at Gracedale and nurses who care about what they are doing and you treat it and them like dirt. I guess it is called the "poor house" for this reason.
If you want to blindly pay Norco 911 more money you better find out the deal with their hiring practices.
I have been in Norco Human Services for more than 20 years. My counterpart in Lehigh County, whom I know very well, is in the same capacity as me , only has been there 4 years, and makes $9000 a year more. We haven't had a raise in nearly 5 years and it doesn't look good for one either. And to top it all, the State pays 90% of our salary and the County matches the other 10%. Furthermore, HS has been understaffed in every single department, where employees have been doing the work of 2, even 3 people, saving the County thousands and thousands of dollars, while still providing top notch services to the people. McClure always boasted how valuable the HS employees are. What a bunch of bull!
Armstrong will continue to raise taxes he does not care about the elderly
@ 9:15 - Sorry Bernie, but we are always going to disagree on her because I have seen it first hand on a couple of occasions.
"If you can do the same job in either county, why on earth would you work at one that pays $6,000 less per year?"
It's a conundrum. Has anyone answered it yet?
I assume there are people who do work for less in Northampton, perhaps someone could ask them directly why they do this.
Wegman's pays comparatively better than Giant, yet folks work at Giant. It's quite a riddle.
Anon at 2:20
"I have been in Norco Human Services for more than 20 years. My counterpart in Lehigh County, whom I know very well, is in the same capacity as me , only has been there 4 years, and makes $9000 a year more."
Can you shed some light on the reasons why 4 years ago you decided to remain at Northampton instead of taking your counterpart job?
BTW,not BTY !=report on Judge Murray fixing an All Star Vote for his Son Joseph !
To the folks that pay the bills this sounds like made men complaining to civilians that the Corleone Family pays more than the other five families.
Yet, somehow we muddle on. Something tells me the gears of government are running as well/shitty as they ever do. More money doesn't deliver better results in government. Most people expect government employees to work like government employees. And they do. And they will. And, based on centuries of experience, this won't change. Let Lehigh pay more for the same inefficiency. Still a lot of dumb bunnies over there.
The Bethlehem 911 operation is soon to be combined with NORCO 911. I am sure the Bethlehem dispatchers make more money. Will the salaries "even out" or will there be two groups of dispatchers working in the same building with one group making more than the other? And yes, the 911 operation in NORCO is poorly run and it's hiring practices are a sham.
Bernie. Can you look into the alleged nursing issue at Gracedale as I knew an employee who called me for advice/help there claiming her union would not intervene in any issues, like constant mandatory overtime? Sick call offs, shortages....
I though mr Mclure was going to help us come join us at the jail on a 16 hr shift ..see how you feel
I believe the jail and now youth care just had workers commit suicide. Something needs to be done about working conditions and morale. We also need something specialized, even more than EAP, for workers to go to who work in these pressure-cooker environments.
It's real simple MrMclure can care less what's going on in the jail with his 2 percent raise discussting
There is pay disparity across the board for Northampton County employees. Caseloads get larger and larger and no increases in pay. McClure will be a one term executive.
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