For years, Guilford County Manager Mike Halford and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners have been working to raise the pay for county employees to the point where those employees would be making the 50th percentile of workers in other counties across the state in similar positions. Halford has constantly contended that Guilford County employees are underpaid and he wanted to see them being paid at least at the midpoint of the state’s pay scale relative to other county employees in like situations and positions.