Pay increase law enforcement officers, correction officers and paramedics

Now Horry County is doing something to hold on to more employees after Horry County Council determined workers were actually under-payed.

About 500 workers went home with a bigger paycheck Friday. Horry County boosted pay for public safety officers to offer more competitive salaries.

It's no secret many police officers and firefighters get their start in Horry County, then move on to higher paying jobs. This year, Horry County Council evaluated the mid-level pay scale workers, which includes fire, EMS and police officers.

Horry County Council Chairman Liz Gilland said council gave the nod to make pay adjustments, especially for positions with high turnover, like class-one law enforcement officers, correction officers and paramedics, which are difficult to fill.

"It takes even longer for them to get to the place where they are as proficient as the person they replaced," said Gilland, "so you want to keep the folks who know the county, know the area, know their job, who know the people they work with and work for, because those are your critical services."

Gilland said it costs the county more than $10,000 to hire and train new employees, so, she said, it's smarter to just increase salaries. Patrol officer police salaries, for example, went up $3,000.

Of course, there are a few grumblings from employees who weren't on that pay-increase list, but Public Safety Director Paul Whitten said these salary enhancements are fantastic and will help the county.

This pay scale is the third year of a three year program to evaluate and adjust county employee salaries.