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The Washington County Budget Board approved a one-time pay increase for County employees this week.

Historically, Washington County never has been able to establish a solid cost of living increase. Commissioners Mitch Antle said they do a one-time pay increase in lieu of that. He said they're able to do this some years, but other years they're not able to do this for the County's employees. Depending on the year, County employees may see a one time pay increase of one-percent or five-percent.

Commissioner Antle said they were able to go through with the one-time pay increase for Washington County's employees this year because of great fiscal responsibility on behalf of the budget board. He said they appropriately utilized taxpayer money to make this happen.

The Washington County Budget Board has been very conscientious on how they manage the people's money. In doing so, instead of the annual cost of living increase, Commissioner Antle said they were able to see the one-time pay go through.

Commissioner Antle said they were not able to see the one-time pay go through approximately four years ago because of a recession.