Sampson County Health Department employees who are in the public health sections of the department and are bilingual in Spanish will receive a salary hike of 5 percent, under an adopted policy by the county board.

Currently, that will affect just one salary, which is funded by the state.

The Sampson County Board of Commissioners has adopted the policy to increase the salaries of bilingual employees at the Sampson County Health Department in large part due to the local Hispanic population, which makes up nearly half of all the department’s public health clients .

Wanda Robinson, director of the Sampson County Health Department, told county officials that 40 percent of the public health clients speak Spanish and that her department is required to provide interpreters. That would no longer be necessary if one person could do the job that would otherwise require two, county officials said.

Assistant county manager Susan Holder stressed that the salary hike for bilingual employees would likely not be a trend that crossed into other county departments. The Health Department has a need — and that need is substantial, she said.

“The county is required by the state to provide an interpreter in regards to public health,” Holder said. “The policy for the Health Department only applies to Health Department employees whose positions are 100 percent state funded. The only division of the Health Department that the policy would not apply to is Environmental Health, which is not 100 percent state funded.”

However, the other divisions of the department do have those applicable positions. The salary bump is more than justified when speaking on matters of human health — and life, county manager Rick Moorefield said.

“These positions are state-funded,” said Moorefield. “Right now, the health nurse would have to take an interpreter. When talking about medications and medical stuff, you can’t make a mistake.”

Moorefield recommended approval of the request to make the 5 percent adjustment within the salary grades as a modification of the classification system, and only for those employees in positions fully-funded by the state. The request would presently affect just one employee.

The board adopted the policy.

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.