SANDPOINT — The county is in “survival mode” as it attempts to keep employees and hire new ones amid a tight budget hit hard by record inflation.

While Commission Chairman Dan McDonald and Commissioner Jeff Connolly said they support a proposal to boost pay for the rank and file of county workers, they all but rejected a recommendation from the county’s Human Resources department that would, in their view, unnecessarily boost salaries for higher ranking positions.

The plan is part of an effort by the county to address employee loss to the private sector.

“We have a number of CDL-licensed drivers that are currently trying to be poached by the private sector,” McDonald said. “If we lose one of them or two of them or several of them, it creates real hardship, because not only is there not anyone else to find to hire, but … we would have to hire them at a much higher rate.”

“If the roads don’t get plowed, [the] sheriff and EMS really don’t need vehicles, because they aren’t going to go anywhere, unless we put plows on the patrol cars,” McDonald quipped.

The Bonner County Sheriff’s Office and Road and Bridge are both under significant personnel pressures and the sheriff’s office is having trouble retaining patrol officers.

“I think the biggest impact for employee loss [for the sheriff’s office], at least according to what the sheriff has told me, is patrol,” McDonald said.

While Human Resources recommended a mostly graduated increase, raising the wages of the lowest paid at BCSO the most, McDonald and Connolly expressed concern about a proposed 14% increase for the higher ranks.

McDonald and Connolly agreed patrol officers deserve a 14.49% pay increase. However, for the positions that are already the highest paid at BCSO — captains, lieutenants, undersheriff, and the sheriff — neither commissioner found a 14% increase to be the most effective use of county resources.

Administrative positions, McDonald pointed out, are not the main “point of pain” when it comes to employee retention.

“They [BCSO administration] are already up in the $80, $90, $100, $120,000 range, the likelihood of them leaving are probably slim to none,” McDonald said. “Who inflation is really hurting are the people at the lower end of the totem pole.”

Undersheriff Ror Lakewold agreed that “the chances of administration bailing to another job are pretty slim.” However, he said it is “the compaction [of the hierarchy of pay] that we have to consider.”

McDonald replied that “right now, we’re in survival mode with respect to payroll.”

“I’m looking at the ones that are most likely to leave because that’s our biggest point of pain right now, finding replacements,” McDonald added.

Commissioners hope to have a revised payroll adjustment plan by the next budgetary meeting, which will be held Monday at 2 p.m. in the county administrative building.