At Thursday night's meeting, Northampton County Council voted 7-0 (Ken Kraft and Tom Giovanni were absent) to increase the salaries of 26 nursing supervisors at Gracedale. The wage increases will go to 9 full-time, 8 part-time and 9 per-diem nursing supervisors. This was recommended in an outside performance audit of Gracedale nursing home back in 2023 and was recommended repeatedly by Council members over the past two years to attract and retain the county workforce and reduce reliance on outside agency nurses.
Unfortunately, the Council Clerk failed to attach supporting documents to the agenda and thus it is impossible to tell you the exact amount of these increases. The paygrade is set with room for these career service employees to get step increases as they go through annual reviews. According to Executive Tara Zrinski, the wage starts at about $52 an hour. She indicated that previous administrations have been reluctant to give step increases and noted that long-time employees would get the same pay as people who are recently hired.
Council member Jason Boulette noted that his reading of Career Service Regulations and the Employee Policy Manual led him to believe that every career service employee who gets a positive evaluation should get a step increase. "Listen, I just got here," said Zrinski. She noted she could only state the past history, and said the budget does limit what can be done.
Currently, only two of these positions are actually filled by county employees. The rest are vacant.
Council member Dave Holland asked about other front-line nursing positions and was told that this is just the beginning of the salary review process.
Any update on the licensing concern?
ReplyDeleteDon't worry- Koo Koo Keegan is at the helm!
DeleteAny update on the licensing problem?
ReplyDeleteNothing has been discussed, which is another reason why the Gracedale Oversight Committee should have met.
DeleteGive them a raise when they weren't doing their job in the first place. What an idiot.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that this raise is needed bc it is competitive and the best way to discourage the use of agency nurses.
DeleteHow would you like to be a CO or CYS employee in this county? They are going to pay the nurses more than the national average for an RN salary at a nursing home while COs and CYS people with advanced degrees make warehouse wages. That should be good for morale lol.
ReplyDeleteThis is what kills me about COs and especially the CYS staff. They hate to see anything good happen to anyone other than themselves and get very resentful. Instead of sniping at fellow workers, you should have the sense to realize now that the Exec has every intention of eliminating wage disparity.
DeleteYou have seen the courts stand up for their employees and they get more money for their staff. Have you ever seen Sue hum services boss stand up for her employees and ask for raises? When first hired she got her friends raises and everyone else was left out in the cold. There is opportunity to give hum service staff more money but admin does not ask. And managers are told going to council will not result in anything positive and read between the lines, do not speak to council. The fear staff work under is real and sad. Many many of the best staff have left as a result. A lot of inexperienced people now are walking into cyf jobs. Many managers have hands off style and closed office doors. You dont need a wage study. You need to speak to a few good staff and increase wages. People want to be heard respected and paid more. They want their bosses to work hard too. They want them to care enough to find more funding for programs like they used to. Money is out there. Look at what other large counties are doing with all the extra funding thats out there. The answers are easy. Ask the shop steward!
DeleteIt’s not about hating seeing good happen to another department. For year the jail and CYF staff have said better wages would entice entry level employees and retain experienced ones. We were always told no. Do these departments need a damning grand jury report so better wages can be had?
DeleteIt was my comment at 7:48pm. I do not work for the county! I think it’s bullshit that we are going to pay RNs ABOVE the national average for a nursing home RN, and the pension on top of it, while everyone else is underpaid? You think that’s fair Bernie? RNs do very little of the heavy lifting in a nursing home to begin with. They give out the meds and yes sign off on everything. It’s a lot of responsibility but please the CNAs and LPNs do all the work let’s be honest.
DeleteThis is definitely a step in the right direction. A comprehensive in-depth review of salaries for County employees should be done and made public. The "job study" should be free of any interference or meddling by the Administration or the Courts and should also include Union Positions. This piece meal band aid approach to resolving the employment crisis in Northampton County won't work. It has to be comprehensive in nature.
ReplyDelete“Listen, I just got here.” Are you kidding me! She was on Council and was the Controller. I hope NorCo voters are happy with the absolute loser they elected.
ReplyDeleteStupid is what stupid says. She continues to prove she’s not qualified to be county executive. It’s going to be a long painful next 3 years. The only good thing is this will stop her political ambitions because people are seeing how incompetent she really is. And they know now she’s a liar.
DeleteReply 9:25pm.... If only that were true......
DeleteShe wasn't qualified for the Controller position, yet somehow got that job (supported by underlings who knew what they were doing) and then waltzed into the Executive position. Norco rewards the inept. I mean geez, Sultanas husband Nadeem Qayyumm is now on Council!!!
I've always believed in meritocracy- she's been a shit show her entire adult life! She's by far, the absolute worst Executive, and she looks like a clown w/o her Sally Jesse Raphael glasses.
DeleteDisgraceful! I can’t even believe she said that but hey just accused everyone that testified in the GJ of perjury so she’s definitely not a member of MENSA lol.
Deleteincompetent & a liar!
Delete3 years too late!
ReplyDeleteWhere is the $$ coming from? There is no way that this is a wash. Between the judges and their obscene raises last year to everybody and Baratta and his constant coming to council to pay people over the entry level and now Tara throwing money around like it’s nothing Looks like we are in trouble in a month or two when the budget gets released
ReplyDeleteGood question. There should be a budget amendment that cuts the line item for agency nurses to pay for it. Otherwise, it just adds to the operating deficit and increases the county contribution.
DeleteJudge is the best gig going. 230 a year plus the HUGE pension for 35 hours a week. Good work if you can get it lol. Bernie you should run for judge!
DeleteWhat’s happening with the Gracedale provisional license?
ReplyDeleteI apologize. I know that someone in admin said recently that the license will be upgraded soon but forget who said it and when.
DeleteWhoops the judges actually make 235 now. After the auto raise they’ll be at 243 next year.
ReplyDeleteThis is a little bit messed up. The jail and CYS are core county government functions required by law. The nursing home is not. Yet the nursing home gets the best wages, a daycare, proposed affordable housing. It doesn’t make sense lol.
ReplyDelete