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ALPENA — The Alpena County Board of Commissioners has approved a 25% raise for one county employee and a 40% raise for another.

During Tuesday’s Ways and Means Committee meeting, however, some commissioners questioned how higher salaries will be paid after the federal government’s stimulus money it received runs out.

The commissioners voted 5-3 for raises to a pair of employees in the Alpena County Prosecutor’s Office. All of the commissioners agreed raises for the employees were justified, but were divided over the size of those raises.

The raises were included in the new budget that started on Jan.1, but just implemented Tuesday.

The salary for the chief assistant prosecutor jumps from a touch over $60,000 to $76,364, or 25%, while the wage for the assistant prosecutor climbs from $47,082 to $65,983, about 40%.

For the year, it is about an additional $30,000 between the two workers.

Elected officials in the county will also receive a 5% increase in pay, but the commissioners will not see an increase in compensation.

Several other county employees will receive raises because they have climbed the county’s wage scale for their longevity.

Commissioners John Kozlowski, Kevin Osbourne, and Brenda Fournier voted against the large raises for the prosecutor’s office employees because of their size and questions about how the raises will impact the county’s budget down the road.

Commissioners Bob Adrian, Bill Peterson, Marty Thomson, Don Gilmet, and Dave Karschnick voted for the increased wages.

Kozlowski said he appreciates the hard work all of the county employees do, but added that tough financial times could lie ahead after the money the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act runs out.

The county received about $5.5 million but has already dipped into it for $800,000 to trim a large budget deficit. The county intends to do it as many as three times more, which could drastically eat away at the money.

The money from the federal government was intended to help with projects such as providing high-speed internet in rural areas and other infrastructure needs. Those funds must be used before the end of 2024.

“I have asked the question numerous times. Where are we going to get the money,” Kozlowski said. “We are currently using the ARPA money, but at some point the federal government isn’t going to be there to bail us out. ”

The commissioners have tossed around the idea of asking voters for an increase in the county’s operational tax. Kozlowski said he isn’t sure the public will pass a millage because of how the board has run budget deficits and is using the stimulus funds.

“You throw out the work millage right now, and people aren’t happy,” he said.

Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski said there is a wide gap between employees in the office, and the wage increases will narrow that gap. She said her department will suffer if it loses employees to other jobs and higher salaries.

“If our office goes down to two prosecutors, I have no idea how we would survive that,” Muszynski said.

Karschnick said if the county wants to keep the valuable employees it has, it has to pay its employees comparable wages to others. He said he isn’t sure right now how the county will pay for the higher costs of labor after the ARPA money is gone.

“If I had a crystal ball and could see 2024 I would know, but I don’t have a crystal ball,” he said. “We can’t get rid of people because we are already short on people, so this is something we will have to look at down the road and see what the taxpayers want us to do. We’ll give them a shopping list of things we need, and if they want those things, great.”