Westmoreland County’s elected officials will again receive raises in 2025.
The commissioners and row officers are slated to see their paychecks jump next year by nearly 3.4%, nearly mirroring the hikes received this year and once again prompting one official to call for a cap on future raises.
“This is in line with the hefty raises officials have received for years, and it’s further proof we should, in the best interest of taxpayers, put an end to end-of-year raises,” said Commissioner Ted Kopas.
Kopas has called for a 2.5% cap on raises doled out annually to elected officials — a proposal that has attracted little support from his colleagues.
The raises are mandated by a county ordinance approved in 1996 that tied future pay hikes for the commissioners and row officers to the consumer price index for Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. That formula is calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor and takes into account average consumer spending differences over the previous 12 months for food, shelter, energy and other cost-of-living expenses.
Raises for Westmoreland’s elected officials since 2022 now total more than 20%. Those pay hikes reflected raises of 5.6% in 2022, 7.8% in 2023, 3.5% this year and nearly 3.4% for 2025.
For commissioners, the new raises amount to an additional $3,200 or more in their paychecks next year. Sean Kertes, as board chairman, is slated to receive $102,283 in 2025. Kopas and Commissioner Doug Chew will be paid $98,640.
Kopas said the county’s payroll has jumped by nearly 28% — from $47 million to $60 million — since 2019.
“This has to stop. Taxpayers cannot afford these increases in personnel costs,” Kopas said. “The big raises to elected officials directly correlates to our bargaining units and nonunion staff.”
Nearly 500 members of the county’s largest bargaining unit — Service Employees International Union Local 668 and Healthcare Pa. — agreed to a new three-year labor deal this year that included raises of more than 17% over the life of the deal. Members received 12% raises this year and are due average pay hikes of 2.8% in 2025 and 2.5% in the final year of the contract.
Any revision of the method by which raises are awarded to the county’s elected officials requires official action by commissioners during a public meeting that is conducted in the evening. By law, the commissioners have until the end of this month to make any changes for 2026, Kopas said.
Chew and Kertes have rejected Kopas’ calls to cap the raises. Chew has criticized the proposal as a political stunt. Kertes, following a public meeting in August, pledged to consider the cap should future pay hikes become excessive.
“The national average is about 3%, so this is not egregious,” Kertes said Wednesday. “Unfortunately, inflation is still high and it’s not where we need it. At this point, I am going to continue moving forward (with these raises) because of inflation.”
