BERRYVILLEÂ â Officials are trying to determine whether Clarke County can afford to give its employees pay raises in the coming fiscal year. Budget preparation work for fiscal 2022 is under way. The 12-month financial period will start on July 1, 2021. During this week's Clarke County Board of Supervisors work session, Vice Chairman Bev McKay suggested deciding whether to give raises after staff figures out how much revenue the county can expect to collect in the new year. Pay hikes of 2% were considered for the current fiscal year. However, the supervisors in April transferred $484,210 to cover the raises to a list of contingency expenses. Those outlays would be pursued only if it was to be eventually determined the county could afford them. At the time, estimates were the COVID-19 pandemic could cost the county at least $970,000 in revenues, largely through lost sales tax collections and delinquent tax payments.