In response to “County to Meet Cash Need” which appeared in the May 5-11 issue of North Country This Week: Wow! Great job SLC legislators for not having to borrow funds. However, a very huge part of this milestone is due to SLC employees not taking raises and subsequent very low raises at 1-1.5 % for the past 4 years. The small pay increases did not even cover health insurance increases. Net pay for many county employees is less than it was 4 years ago. Also, many county jobs have been eliminated due to attrition so many county employees are doing double duty or working above their grade titles so the taxpayers still receive the same the level of services. It’s easy to balance a budget on the backs of employees.