OLIVIA -- Department heads and non-union employees in Renville County will be seeing a 4 percent wage and salary increase in the coming year.
The Renville County Board of Commissioners approved the increase at its meeting Tuesday. It mirrors a 4 percent increase that union workers will also see, according to the meeting minutes.
The action affects all employees with supervisory responsibilities in the county, as well as non-union employees in the county Attorney's Office and Sheriff's Department.
In another matter, the commissioners approved a new employee health insurance plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield. It will increase the employee health insurance deductible from $4,000 to $5,000. The higher deductible means that the premiums for insurance will rise by an average of 12 percent instead of 19 percent.
The county will now negotiate how the costs for insurance will be split between employees and the employer in 2008, according to County Administrator Bill Wells. The costs for health insurance next year for the county will vary according to two available plans.
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On plan A, the monthly cost will be: $1,633.25 for family coverage and $611.28 for single.
On plan B, the monthly cost will be: $1,280.54 for family coverage and $480.29 for single.
The commissioners also awarded the low bid of $120,000 to TCW of Hamburg to provide recycling services in the county in 2008. West Central Sanitation of Willmar offered a $177,600 bid.
The recycling services includes curbside pickup in all of the county communities, as well as at pickup sites located within those communities for rural residents, according to Marlin Larson, public works director.
The commissioners also approved the final payment for the newly built Franklin/Morton shop building. The county had awarded the project to Everstrong Construction, Redwood Falls, for $379,674 in April 2006.
Also Tuesday, the commissioners approved lease agreements for the use of county-owned farmland property adjacent to two county parks.
The lands include a parcel of 32 tillable acres and three smaller parcels totaling 23 acres. The county and farmers using the land have had oral agreements since the 1960s when the land was acquired, said Mark Erickson, county environmental and community development director.
The new written agreements provide the county with the right to eventually end the use of the lands for crop production.
