Wednesday, January 9, 2002
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Wednesday, January 9, 2002 |
| County workers
to get raises?
Consultants' plan calls for 5.85% hikes By DAVE HAMRICK
Fayette County government workers will see their salaries increase an average of 5.85 percent under a new pay and classification plan under consideration tomorrow. County commissioners will consider the plan at their regular business meeting, 7 p.m. at the County Administrative Complex. "It's generally a very good study," said commission Chairman Greg Dunn during the group's workshop meeting last week. "It shows we have a lot of adjustments to make in order to treat everybody fairly." Developed by consultants Management of America Inc., the plan would increase the county's payroll by $1.27 million from the current $21.7 million. With benefits, the total cost to the county will be almost $1.5 million a year, but the current fiscal year is half over, so the effect in FY2002 would be $726,728. County staff officials are not recommending making the changes retroactive for the entire fiscal year. The majority of the increases would be in public safety positions. "They determined that it's in those areas that we are under the market most severely," said Mark Pullium, county finance director. Commissioners last year decided to hire Management of America to study salaries and job classifications in surrounding counties after rejecting a similar study conducted by the Atlanta Regional Commission. ARC's study, which would have resulted in higher salary increases than the one now under consideration, included all counties in the metropolitan Atlanta area, and commissioners said they didn't think it was realistic to compare Fayette's pay structure with those in Gwinnett, Fulton and other large counties, or those too far away. The idea of such a study is to prevent too much turnover by keeping salaries competitive with those in both government and private industry in surrounding areas. The firm presented its findings last week, and during their meeting Wednesday, commissioners said they had questions that needed to be answered. But at Commissioner Linda Wells' urging, other commissioners promised to take action on the plan at Thursday's meeting. "It's time for us to step up to the plate and proceed along those lines," Wells said. Commissioner A.G. VanLandingham said he was ready to approve the plan last week. "The study was fair, equitable and past due," he said. If implemented the recommended increases will be in addition to the regular cost of living and merit increases approved as part of the 2002 budget. The plan also would change the way the annual raises are implemented, doing away with the old "step" system in which workers were given small step increases every year in addition to the COLA and merit increases. "Every position will now be classified in a range and the employee will move through that range based on COLA and merit," said finance director Pullium. The new system, he said, "will be easier to administer and much less cumbersome."
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