Soaring salaries and benefits are the main cause of consistently gaping holes in Montgomery County’s budget, according to a new report to be released Tuesday.
The study by the county’s Office of Legislative Oversight shows that employee salaries grew 50 percent in the last decade, while health and retirement benefits increased more than 120 percent.
The county will devote $740 million — or 22 percent of all spending — to employee benefits alone this fiscal year. In other words, for every $1 the county spends on salaries, it pays 52 cents for benefits.
“The primary driver behind higher personnel costs was not an increase in the size of the work force but rather the increase in average costs per employee,” the report says.
The full report will be outlined for the County Council Tuesday.
