Lackawanna County salary board approves multiple raises, retitles and $18/hour minimum for seasonal staff

The Lackawanna County Salary Board on (date not specified in transcript) approved a broad set of personnel changes including pay raises for seasonal and part-time staff, multiple position retitles and several new or reclassified posts.

Chief of Staff Brian Jeffers told the board the county has increased a number of part-time wages from $8.50 (and other lower levels) to $18 per hour to address recruitment challenges, saying, “$15 probably wouldn't get us the staff that we need ... the thought process to go to $18 an hour and hopefully that will assist us in getting these positions filled.” The board approved the motion.

Human resources items included retitling a Clerk 2 to Subassessor at a salary of $41,660 (SEIU-approved) and creating three seasonal part-time flexible floaters at $18/hour to be used across departments; HR said the positions will be advertised. The recorder/deeds office received approval to retitle a Clerk 2 to Verification Specialist and increase the salary from $32,150 to $39,000 with SEIU approval.

Several museum, park and seasonal positions were also raised — for example, tour guides and ticketing staff were moved from $15/hour to $18/hour. The parks deputy director’s salary was increased from $53,844 to $57,324 retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026; officials said that item was intended for last year’s salary board but is budgeted.

In human services, the board created a Fiscal Administrator III at a $55,000 salary to assist with human-service fiscal operations; Director Barb Durkin said the position is budget neutral and roughly 80% reimbursed by the state. The community health nurse salary was raised from $50,000 to $60,000 and was described by staff as 100% reimbursed by the state, making it budget neutral to county taxpayers.

Several judges’ staff salaries were redistributed across judges’ offices as budget-neutral adjustments. The board also approved eliminating one vacant court reporter position while increasing remaining court-reporting salaries, a change described as budget neutral.

The board took these actions by motion and voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript. The meeting adjourned after no public comment was received.

The board’s actions were presented as largely budget neutral, funded either by existing department budgets, state reimbursements (commonly stated as ~80% for some human-service items), grants, or — in at least one case — asset forfeiture funds redirected to operational needs.