Wednesday, January 16, 2002
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Wednesday, January 16, 2002 |
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County aproves new pay plan for workers By DAVE
HAMRICK
About 30 Fayette County workers left Thursday's County Commission meeting with smiles on their faces after the group unanimously approved a new pay plan that will bump salaries up an average of 5.8 percent. The increases are in addition to the regular cost of living and merit increases approved as part of the 2002 budget. "This is a worthy investment for the calibre and quality of employees that we have," said Commissioner Linda Wells before casting her vote in the matter. "It's the employees that keep Fayette County number one. 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 will be $726,728. The plan is effective Jan. 1. The majority of the increases 62 percent go to 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 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." Commission Chairman Greg Dunn admitted that the pay adjustments will be a significant cost to the county over $20 million in the next decade. "It's a substantial investment we're making here tonight," he said.
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