Minutes 03/30/1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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March 30, 1999 We have already taken several steps, as most of you are well aware. Over the last three years, general employees of the City have received wage increases totaling more than 10 percent. On January 1 of this year, we implemented a new pay plan for sworn public safety employees that included a general wage increase and a one-time adjustment based on years of service to adjust for compression, which I will explain in a minute. Adjustments in pay ranges and in individual pay for police officers and firefighters have assured that we are competitive in the marketplace for these positions. In February of this year we concluded a detailed study comparing general employee positions to their counterparts in our marketplace. The result was that we upgraded half of our general employee positions to higher pay ranges to make them competitive within the region. In cases where individual employees found their salary below the minimum of their new pay range, we increased their salary to the minimum. This affected about 200 general employees. General Employees The next step is an action for general employees similar to the one taken for public safety employees last January 1. This will involve a general wage increase coupled with a one-time placement to compensate for compression. A note about compression: it has been caused by the practice of hiring people in recent years at increased minimum salaries without giving pay raises to existing employees for longevity or productivity (although most have received general wage increases). The result in some cases is that employees with several years experience may be receiving the same pay as a newly hired employee. This proposed budget includes a 5 percent general wage increase for full-time general employees effective January 1, 2000, along with a one-time placement based on years of service in the current position. This one-time placement will compensate general employees for compression, much as we did for public safety employees in the current fiscal year. This will ensure that all general employees will receive at least a 5 percent adjustment in their base pay, and 339 (28%) employees will receive decompression adjustments in addition, for an overall average increase of 6.2% percent. Public Safety Although we have recently implemented the new pay plan for public safety employees, we need to continue to work on compensation for those men and women to assure fair compensation and competitiveness within the marketplace. We are recommending that overtime funding for non-exempt police officers be funded at the $600,000 level requested by our Police Chief, partially from grant funding, which will result in putting more officers back on the streets. This step is also aided by increased funding from the state. We are also recommending a 3 percent general wage increase effective January 1, 2000, for exempt, sworn police officers and for all firefighter ranks. Additional Employee Issues With the major revisions to both the general employee and public safety pay plans in place, our next area of concern must be the prevention of recompression. To a large degree, the one-time placement of all employees on decompression steps and the use of general wage increases to advance all employees will prevent the return to a compressed work force. We also need to challenge all of our employees to continue to study ways to reward exceptional service. One of those ways is our Employee Incentive program, which provides one-time cash awards for cost-saving ideas. The proposed budget also continues funding for this program, which has been a great success since it was revised by the Public Information Group two years ago. A recent edition of Connections, our City employee newsletter, reported that employees have earned more than $18,000 in cash awards for their cost- saving ideas that resulted in annual savings of more than $200,000.