By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

The Ellis County Commission approved contracts with the four service employee unions and set salaries for 2015 for both elected and appointed officials at Monday night’s commission meeting.

Employees will get a 2-percent raise and will also be responsible for an additional 2.5-percent of the health insurance premiums, bringing their total to 7.5-percent.

Currently the union contracts for the courthouse, sheriff’s department, EMS and public works employees are also tied to elected and appointed officials.

The one-year agreement allows the county to apply information from the current wage-and-benefit study to next year’s negotiations.

Monday evening’s meeting was the first held in the commission’s new chambers are the 718 Main Administrative Center, which opens to the public for the first time Tuesday.