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Past Pay and Benefit Actions with <br />Differentiated Benefit for Lower Salaried Employees <br />1. Living Wage <br />Attachment 1 <br />Effective July 1, 1998, the Board adopted a Living Wage policy that provides a <br />minimum wage for County employees based on the Federal poverty level for a family of <br />four as adjusted for the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area cost of living. The <br />Manager's Recommended Budget includes a recommended increase in the Living <br />Wage from $9.11 an hour to $9.34 an hour effective July 1, 2005. <br />2. Elimination of Lowest Salary Grade in 2002 -03 <br />With final implementation of the County -wide Classification and Pay Study effective <br />April 14, 2003, the consultant eliminated the lowest salary grade from the <br />recommended salary schedule and moved those classes to the next higher grade. <br />This action also increased the minimum salary for a permanent employee. <br />3. Elimination of Lowest Salary Grade in 2000 -01 and Setting Minimum Salary <br />Effective October 13, 2000, the Board approved eliminating the lowest salary grade for <br />permanent employees and moving the employees at that grade to the next higher <br />grade. At the same time the Board also set $20,798 as the minimum salary for a <br />permanent County employee and increased the salary of any current employee below <br />that salary. <br />4. Elimination of Lowest Salary Grade in 1997 -98 <br />Effective July 1, 1997, the Board approved eliminating the lowest salary grade for <br />permanent employees and moved those employees to the next higher grade. <br />5. 401(k) Plan Contribution as a Dollar Amount <br />Orange County's current 401(k) plan contribution for non -sworn law enforcement <br />employees is provided as a flat dollar amount; that is, $20 per pay period. This <br />provides a relatively greater benefit to a lower salaried employee than a higher salaried <br />employee. This is 1.5 percent of salary for an employee making $35,000 a year and .8 <br />percent of salary for an employee making $60,000 a year. <br />6. Meritorious Service Awards <br />In past years when the County provided Meritorious Service Awards, these awards <br />were given as a lump sum flat dollar amounts that did not become a part of base salary <br />to a limited group of top performing employees. The amounts were $750 for Superior <br />and $1,500 for exceptional accomplishments. For an employee making $35,000 a <br />year, this equated to a 2.1 percent amount and a 4.2 percent amount for Superior and <br />