LIMA — Employees of Allen County Juvenile Court have been among the lowest paid employees in the county with a starting wage near the minimum wage.
But that process is slowly changing as Judge Glenn Derryberry and Court Administrator Berlin Carroll push for higher wages.
Recently, the court has been able to raise the starting detention officer’s wage from $8.65 to $10.32. The goal remains to get that to at least $12.50 through the court budget and to then increase it to near the starting wage of a correctional officer at the Allen County jail of $15.64 with regular raises, Carroll said during a presentation to Allen County commissioners on Tuesday who would have to approve additional money to hit the higher wage.
In 2000, Juvenile Court employees were hired in at about double the minimum wage or more than $8 an hour. While the minimum wage has doubled the past 15 years, the wage of Juvenile Court employees has remained stagnant, Carroll said.
The court has found money through wages through streamlining processes, not replacing employees who resign or retire, and other cost-saving measures, Carroll said.
