Mt. Pleasant looking to set aside $3M extra for potential employee pay bump

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - The Town of Mount Pleasant could be setting aside millions of dollars to help increase the pay for some of its employees.

Mayor Will Haynie said the effort would not come with a tax increase because officials are looking at using an extra $3 million from the town’s general fund.

Haynie said the town needs to stay competitive, adjust for inflation, and make it affordable to live in.

He added that the town finds itself in a very competitive employer market, with 100,000 jobs open in government statewide.

It won’t be a blanket raise, however, with some people receiving a 4% cost of living adjustment, while others will get a 1% merit raise.

Haynie said department heads won’t see as big of a bump compared to the median wage earner.

He also said the town is being proactive with this effort, adding they have extremely high standards for whom they hire.

“We’re the fourth largest municipality in the state,” Haynie said. “We have to be very competitive. We have to look at what others are doing, and we’ve looked at what others are doing, and we want to stay – we don’t have to surpass anybody, but we have to stay competitive in that range, and we’re in the process of making sure that’s what we’re doing.”

The mayor reiterated they are still in the early stages of figuring out how this could work, and nothing has been passed yet. The new fiscal year in Mount Pleasant begins on July 1.

While taxes are not expected to go up because of the potential employee raise, they will go up as part of the recreation referendum voters passed last November.

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