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- Increase from $9.67 to $10.12 an hour effective July 1, 2007 <br />- Consistent with Board's policy <br />- Affects about 130 temporary employees in 13 departments <br />- All permanent employees earn mare than the living wage <br />- 2007-08 budget impact of $11,000 <br />Laura Blackmon said that budgeting at 96% would achieve some savings. The staff is <br />looking for ways to budget efficiently. She thought that the 96°~ would be easier <br />administratively than the 120-day waiting period that is currently being used. She said that the <br />in-range salary increase would be an effort to work on salary compression to a certain extent. <br />There is also a morale issue. <br />Regarding a pay and classification study, she said that these type of studies should be <br />done every five years. There are compression issues, and she is not sure if Orange County is <br />in the market range on some positions. There have been several requests from staff for some <br />equity adjustments. She said that some of the vacant positions are vacant because they cannot <br />find people to hire at that particular salary range. <br />Regarding the employee health insurance, there has been at least one inquiry from a <br />non-profit agency about being put on the County's health care plan. It is very difficult for non- <br />profits to get insurance plans for the small amount of emplayees. So far, the County's record far <br />claims and hospitalizations is higher than the rest of the state. She is reluctant to recommend <br />putting any other agencies on the County's health insurance. <br />Commissioner Nelson asked about the pasitions that are hard to fill and Laura Blackmon <br />said mainly it is the telecommunicators. There are some programs to promote <br />telecommunicators to a higher place in the salary range. The staff is also researching some <br />different recruiting mechanisms and their new facility will offer better working conditions. She <br />said that it is not necessarily just the pay issue. <br />Rod Visser said that one of the challenges with the paramedic program is that, because <br />there is the Initial Response Vehicle program, it puts a lot mare responsibility on the individual <br />paramedic. The paramedics have to really like the extra responsibility. Telecommunicators <br />have been a traditional problem. There is same increasing promise with the community college <br />program and the new satellite campus of Durham Tech. <br />Commissioner Nelson said that he would support working with non-profits on health <br />insurance, but he would defer to the Manager's judgment. He would like to spend the next six <br />or eight months looking at options for helping the non-profits to band together. <br />Chair Carey said that the last time the County looked at this it was far ABC employees <br />and the County Commissioners decided against it. He said that the North Carolina Center for <br />Non-Profits provides a plan for non- profits to buy into. <br />Commissioner Nelson said that he thinks that the non-profits are looking for stability. He <br />thinks that it would help to have the County facilitate the conversation between the non-profits. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked about the history of COLA and in-range salary increases <br />over the last few years. Rod Visser said that there is a chart that goes back to 2000-2001. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked to see this chart. <br />Commissioner Jacobs reminded the County Commissioners that one reason the <br />meritorious pay was dropped was because there was one department with fewer than ten <br />employees where everyone was meritorious and one department with over 100 employees <br />