WESTMORELAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS CONSIDERING PLAN TO PUT CAP ON ELECTED OFFICIAL’S PAY RAISES

Commissioners in Westmoreland County are considering a plan that would put a cap on pay raises for the county’s elected officials.  The proposal, introduced yesterday, would set a limit of two-point-seven-five percent for annual wage increases.  This would be a departure from the system set up three decades ago that gives Westmoreland County’s elected leaders raises based on cost-of-living increases as calculated by the Consumer Price Index for Pennsylvania and a handful of other eastern states.  Under that system, elected officials have gotten raises totaling 23 percent over the last five years.  A special meeting to discuss the proposal is scheduled for the evening of November 4th.