Chatham County’s unemployment rate sits at 3.6 percent as of April 2019, according to the N.C. Dept. of Commerce.
That’s better than North Carolina’s (4 percent) and the same as the United States’ rate.
But County Manager Dan LaMontagne states the low unemployment rate might actually be a bit of an issue when it comes to hiring for government jobs.
“There’s very little unemployment, and it’s also very difficult to hire people,” LaMontagne said at the May 6 county commissioners meeting. “We’re competing with our surrounding urban areas, the towns and the counties, for this limited number of employees that are looking for jobs.”
“In the Triangle” means Chatham County fighting for the same code enforcers, 9-1-1 operators and building inspectors as counties like Durham, Orange and Wake that have larger tax bases, and thus more money — and higher salaries with which to lure employees.
It’s in building inspections in particular that this problem has come to a head in recent months, as the department has lost four employees in the last two months. And that’s caused the average wait time for inspections to jump.
According to state law, a licensed home inspector must return a report on the inspected property within three business days after the inspection was performed. LaMontagne said last week the county has been up to eight days for that wait time.
“We just happened to have a number of inspectors leave at once,” he said.
To help make up for those losses, the county budget, already tentatively approved by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, includes a new incentive pay system. Employees “who perform at or above the level of ‘meets expectations’” will receive a 3 percent increase in both their pay and county contribution to their health plan, according to the budget message. The current spending plan has set aside $42,386 for this purpose.
The county has also implemented an increase in temporary salaries to cover the lack of employees in the inspections department, as well as a restructure of the salary ranges for that group “to hopefully attract people with varying levels of certification,” according to county human resources director Carolyn Miller.
“We provided some added incentive for folks for something to look forward to,” Miller said at last week’s budget workshop. “People with certifications are a hot commodity, and we’re stealing from each other constantly. It’s harming our impact to be able to get to certain inspections.”
The county only has one position vacant at the moment, the inspections supervisor position, while temporary employees are filling the other gaps.
This incentive program coincides with the county’s 5 percent increase in employee salaries, including new positions, accounting for $780,242.
County officials have also expressed concern over payment for teachers. Chatham recently shifted to a salary percentage supplement as opposed to a flat fee, and put an additional $825,000 toward that fund. But as state legislators continue to increase teacher salaries, that might place a strain on counties trying to keep that supplement percentage consistent.
LaMontagne said the county is essentially “mak(ing) up for shortages in state salary to state employees” by paying these supplements, and that they’re not the only county doing it.
“What matters, I feel, to us is our market, is being able to compete in our market,” he said. “A number of other jurisdictions are going from percentage to flat in the supplement, but none of those in our area are. We’re competing for teachers here, and we’ve got some significant school districts really, really close.”
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.