The MAGAs on the Augusta County Board of Supervisors don’t want to have to pay county employees what they owe them, so they’re trying to pressure Gov. Abigail Spanberger into vetoing a bill that would require Virginia localities to negotiate with public-sector unions.
The House of Delegates and State Senate passed a bill authored by Northern Virginia Democratic Del. Kathy Tran that would repeal the existing prohibition on collective bargaining by public employees.
That bill is now on Spanberger’s desk.
Hard to tell what the centrist Democrat will do here, honestly.
The Virginia Association of Counties opposes the legislation, citing the impact on local budgets – Augusta County leaders have done back-of-the-envelope math suggesting it would cost the county $36 million a year.
The math is interesting: the finance people just put an estimated 20 percent increase for salaries and benefits for county employees, which is the bulk of the $36 million, with $400,000 to $500,000 a year total for hiring a labor-relations manager and legal consulting fees.
What that suggests: the county is underpaying its employees to a tune of a collective $35.5 million a year.
Let’s do some more back-of-the-envelope math: the county employs in the area of 750 people in its general government and constitutional offices, and the school system employs around 1,700 people.
Dividing $35.5 million by 2,450 means the average government and school system employee is underpaid by around $14,500 per year.
The county BOS, at its meeting on Wednesday, voted 6-1 to authorize a nasty letter to the governor, telling her that she’d better veto this legislation that would force them to pay county employees what they ought to be paid.
The lone abstention: Stephen Grepps, who is the former president of the Augusta County Professoinal Firefighters and Paramedics.
Funny how the MAGAs like to MAGA until it impacts people they know, but I shouldn’t say that, because Grepps is trying to do the right thing here.
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Chris Graham
