Richland penny tax group says its workers need a raise. The secretary makes $52,000
While Richland County government employees won’t see pay raises next year, a group of private companies hired by the county to run the transportation penny-tax program is asking the county for three years’ worth of raises that could bump their employees’ pay more than 10 percent.
The group is known as the Program Development Team, or PDT. It is responsible for managing the county’s $1 billion transportation-improvement program. It consists of employees from three private companies: HDR Engineering (formerly known as ICA Engineering), M.B. Kahn Construction Co. and Brownstone Construction Group. They work separately from the county’s internal transportation department.
The PDT is asking Richland County Council to approve pay increases for its 20 full-time employees not just for 2018, but retroactively for 2017 and 2016, as well.
PDT salaries include $23.35 an hour, or $48,568 a year, for assistant procurement manager Janet Jones; $25.09 an hour, or $52,187 a year, for secretary Felicia Robinson; and $81.18 an hour, or $168,854 a year, for program manager David Beaty.
By comparison, secretaries and administrative assistants in Richland County government earn between $22,308 and $43,596 a year. County transportation director John Thompson earns $112,000 a year.
A three-year pay increase would result in an 11- to 13-percent pay bump for PDT employees, depending on their position. A raise for 2018 only would mean a 5 percent pay increase — or, for program manager Beaty, an extra $8,442.72 a year.
On Monday, Beaty declined to comment on the PDT’s request for raises “because it’s a contractual matter with the county.”
Most county employees received 4 percent and 3 percent cost-of-living pay increases in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Some paramedics and jail officers received 5-percent raises last December. There were no county raises in 2016 and will be none in 2019.
“I will only vote for them to get what county employees get,” Councilman Jim Manning said of the PDT. He and some other council members polled by The State said they thought it was reasonable to at least consider PDT pay raises for years county employees had received them but not necessarily for other years.
“If we didn’t give our own employees a raise, why do we give a contracted agency and their employees raises? It’s not fair,” Councilman Bill Malinowski said.
“I haven’t decided one way or the other,” said Councilman Paul Livingston, who said he was looking for more information on Richland County and private sector pay as well as the terms of the PDT’s contract with the county.
Regarding the amounts being paid to particular PDT employees, such as $25.09 an hour for the PDT secretary, Malinowski said that though he “thought a lot of them were high,” it is up to the PDT, not the county, to set their salaries.
County Council had the chance to consider the PDT’s request for pay raises at its July 24 meeting but opted to defer the matter until September.
The PDT’s five-year, $31 million contract, signed in November 2014, says its full-time employees “shall be eligible for” annual pay increases starting in January 2016. The group has not received any pay increases since its contract began, despite previously requesting raises. Last year, former county administrator Gerald Seals said he wouldn’t recommend pay increases for the PDT.
The PDT is paid through the county’s $1 billion transportation improvement program, funded by a 1-percent countywide sales tax that voters narrowly approved in 2012.
The penny tax is being used for projects such as the widening of Bluff Road near Williams-Brice Stadium, a new plaza on Lincoln Street near Colonial Life Arena, a new greenway along the Saluda River and the widening of Clemson and Hardscrabble roads in Northeast Richland.
Late last year, Seals warned that the transportation improvement program was projected to be $104 million in the red. He based the calculations on actual costs of completed projects and the expected costs of projects either underway or planned. “Substantial cost overruns appear to have become chronic,” Seals warned in a memo to the County Council.
The PDT disputed Seals’ findings, saying it was inaccurate to say a project was over budget if it had not been started or completed.
The penny-tax program has been embroiled in controversy since 2015, when the state Department of Revenue — recently backed by an opinion of the S.C. Supreme Court — flagged numerous examples of inappropriate use of the tax dollars, including spending $50,000 a month for public relations and paying for a countywide small-business program. Those spending decisions were made by County Council, not the PDT.
In addition to accusing the county of illegally spending some penny tax dollars, the revenue department alleged potential public corruption and fraud in the establishment of the program.
The State Law Enforcement Division began an investigation into the program in 2015 and in 2017, the state grand jury became involved in the investigation.
How much PDT employees earn
According to Richland County
Program manager David Beaty: $81.18/hour, $168,854.40/year
Deputy program manager Robert Pratt: $76.31/hour, $158,724.80/year
Program administrator Ross Tilton: $60.28/hour, $125,382.40/year
Assistant program director Jennifer Bragg: $62.72/hour, $130,457.60/year
Assistant program director Anthony Lawrence: $62.72/hour, $130,457.60/year
Assistant program director Perry Mayhew: $31.36/hour, $65,228.80/year
Assistant program director Aaron Marshall: $31.36/hour, $65,228.80/year
Assistant program director Raven Gambrell: $31.36/hour, $65,228.80/year
Assistant program director Ben Lewis: $31.36/hour, $65,228.80/year
Assistant public information director Nicole Smith: $42.16/hour, $87,692.80/year
Construction manager Clem Watson: $63.07/hour, $131,185.60/year
Program controls Jennifer Manucy: $62.02/hour, $129,001.60/year
Scheduler Trish Mintz: $35.19/hour, $73,195.20/year
Estimator Gerald Walker: $46.34/hour, $96,387.20/year
Accountant Chanel Wallace: $32.75/hour, $68,120.00/year
Assistant procurement manager Janet Jones: $23.35/hour, $48,568.00/year
Office manager Denise Gilliard: $31.36/hour, $65,228.80/year
Secretary Felicia Robinson: $25.09/hour, $52,187.20/year
Project utility manager Randy Roberts: $45.65/hour, $94,952.00/year
Right-of-way manager Tim Seybt: $55.75/hour, $115,960.00/year
This story was originally published July 30, 2018 at 10:32 AM.