Florence County moves to stabilize workforce

FLORENCE, S.C. — Uncertainty creates challenges.

Florence County officials and administrators certainly faced both during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At one point in 2022, Florence County had 200 unfilled positions, County Administrator K.G. “Rusty” Smith said.

A national research center reported more than 38 million workers left their jobs in 2021, Smith said, including more than 4.5 million in November 2021. November 2021 was a record-breaking month for resignations.

What has been deemed “The Great Resignation” hit all businesses, industries and government entities.

“One thing I noticed is many employees – especially long-term employees with extensive expertise have been awakened to this new work-life balance that’s becoming increasingly important to today’s workforce,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic also changed people’s perception of reality and fatality, Smith said.

The National Association of Counties reports there are nearly 1 million openings in county governments across the United States.

The private sector, Smith said, has been able to adapt to the pandemic more quickly than municipal and county government. Private sector employees were allowed to work from home. Some government employees – law enforcement, firefighters and emergency management services for example – had to stay on the job and out in the streets.

“Deputies, paramedics and firefighters they can’t really work from home. They are usually working at some citizen’s home where they are trying to save the person’s life or save their property,” Smith said.

In South Carolina, Act 388 reformed the state’s property tax structure in 2006 by linking city and county millage rate increases to the consumer price index and population growth.

For years, Florence County was unable to increase wages because ACT 388 prevented it from increasing its millage rate.

Inflation, caused by supply shortage, Russia’s war with Ukraine and the pandemic, allowed Florence County to increase its millage rate by 3.79 mills for the 2022-23 fiscal year. The increase was partially offset by a 1.3 mill decrease in the county’s debt-service millage rate.

The millage rate increase allowed Florence County to raise employee wages. Full-time county employees received a $3,000 cost of living increase. Florence County Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center employees received a $5,000 cost of living adjustment.

In addition, full-time employees were given a one-time stipend of $2,000 and part-time employees who work at least 28 hours a week received a $1,250 one-time stipend.

Wage increases, department realignments and other incentives have helped Florence County find employees to fill positions. Today, the county only has 81 open positions, Smith said.

“We are on our way back to normalcy,” he said

The Florence County Sheriff’s Office has 17 unfilled deputy positions and 20 open positions at the Florence County Detention Center, Smith said.

Public Works is another area of shortage – mainly truck drivers, he said.

The county can’t compete with wages paid by UPS, Amazon and Fed-X, he said.

“Public Works is a vital cog in survival and recovery from hurricanes and things of that nature,” he said.

The County Council also has realigned some departments to alleviate staffing problems.

Florence County Emergency Management – E911 Central Dispatch Division is one of those departments. The E911 Central Dispatch Division had 16 open positions and was operating at a staffing level of 51%. Central Dispatch has averaged 10 vacancies per year since 2020.

The Florence County Emergency Management administrative staff stepped into dispatcher roles, resulting in more than 200 hours of comp or overtime.

At its August meeting, the Florence County Council eliminated six positions in the E911 Central Dispatch Division to use those salaries to raise entry-level wages for dispatchers.

Previously, entry level wages were $30,737 without training and $35,741 with training. The change increased entry-level wages to $35,897 without training and $41,741 with training.

The new wages are more in line with state averages for dispatchers. South Carolina Highway Patrol Dispatch’s entry level wages are $32,488annually without training and 40,000 a year with training.

The County Council’s decisions were based on the recommendation of Florence County Emergency Management Director Mitch Fulmore.

“Our EMD or telecommunications, which I think is the backbone of our emergency response system, are always on the front lines on every disaster. I honestly think they have to be seated at their consoles to dispense this life-saving information to our exceptional first responders,” Smith said.

The E911 Central Dispatch Division has received 10 applications since raising the entry-level wages in August, Smith said.

“We are interviewing five more this week. We will be down to five dispatcher shortages in EMD now,” he said.

The county is making the right moves to stabilize its workforce, Smith said.

“We are moving in the right direction,” he said.