Wednesday, March 28, 2001
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Wednesday, March 28, 2001 |
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County to study salary structure By DAVE
HAMRICK
Fayette County commissioners want more information before making any wholesale changes in pay classifications. In coming weeks, County Administrator Chris Cofty will create a draft request for proposals aimed at finding experts to conduct a study. "Until we have all the facts and information, it's impossible to make an informed decision," said Commissioner Linda Wells during discussions last week. During budget talks last year, commissioners were presented with a study conducted by the Atlanta Regional Commission, but that study includes all the counties in the metropolitan Atlanta area, and commissioners said they don't think it makes sense to compare Fayette County with huge, urban counties like Gwinnett and Fulton. Some workers would have received salary increases of more than 30 percent if that study had been used to restructure Fayette's pay plan. During the budget talks, commissioners did implement a cost of living adjustment and new merit pay plan, but delayed any action on the ARC study, promising to return to the topic later. "We have excellent employees and we want to fairly compensate them," said Wells. "I want the employees to understand that this is not a put-off. We're going to do this study and, Lord willing, before the end of the year we'll get this implemented," she added. Commission Chairman Greg Dunn also hastened to point out that delaying action on the pay plan doesn't mean workers won't get salary increases in this year's budget. The COLA is still in effect, he said, along with the merit plan. "This has nothing to do with COLAs or merit pay for the coming year," he said. Commissioners discussed having Georgia Tech graduate students conduct a study, and voted unanimously to have Cofty bring a definitive plan for a study that compares county workers' salaries with those in comparable sized counties. Another goal of the study would be to reduce the number of pay classifications. "I think we've got as many as 17 steps," said Commissioner Herb Frady. "There are actually 30 some-odd levels," Cofty said. "This will help us determine whether we have the right number and quality of employees in each position," Frady said.
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