Raises for St. Louis County employees are being discussed by officials during this year's budgeting process. 

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It would be the first raise county employees received in four years.

“We’re in the first third of the budget process and talking about all of the different options here,” said Mac Scott, spokesperson for County Executive Charlie Dooley. He added that a raise isn't certain yet.

“We got some things (last year) that were better than we thought they’d be,” he said.

Councilman Steve Stenger (D-South County) reinforced the possibility during a South County Chamber of Commerce meeting on Thursday.

“The St. Louis County police are the best in the area, but we sure haven’t been paying them like it,” he said. “Crime is going down and their pay is staying the same.”

The pay raises would come one year after 26 county employees were laid off, saving approximately $4 million for the county.

The layoffs occurred after a heated debate over the 2012 county budget. Dooley submitted a budget to the County Council that called for 173 eliminated positions and the closing of 23 St. Louis County parks.

Six of the seven council members said they would not approve the budget, leading to the formation of a special budget committee headed by now-council chairman Mike O’Mara (D-Florissant).

After opposition from more than 60 speakers at council meetings, the county executive announced that the parks would stay open.

When the county reported a $3.2 million surplus at the end of 2011, Stenger called the layoffs unnecessary.

“That to me was one of the worst things I have ever seen anyone do in government,” he said. “To fire 20 people and basically sacrifice them to prove a point.”

Stenger has hinted at running for county executive in 2014.