Minutes - 20080508 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

f. County Employee Salary and Benefit Compensation Plan Laura Blackmon said that staff was going to give the Board more information to discuss such as general information. The staff was looking at not making a lot of changes this year. Human Resources Director Michael McGinnis said that since the last work session, he has been looking at alternatives with what was brought to the Board previously. The pay plan is still being worked on through the Archer Group. He has also received information from other organizations about how they are dealing with COLA and in-range adjustments. The health plan has an 11% annual increase, but he thinks that some changes can be made to bring this down to 7% or 8%. Laura Blackmon said that the numbers listed on line#14 and #15 were what she was going to recommend. The pay plan will not be ready by July 1st, and there have been discussions with staff about whether the COLA would be effective January 1st or next July. Regarding in-range, part of the problem is that in-range does not reflect performance and thus, it will cause compression. She said that she is reviewing the drivers for the compensation plan. Michael McGinnis said that, with the WPPR, the County does pay for performance (2% for Exceptional), and there is not enough difference to encourage this type of exceptional work. About 15% of employees are getting this. The Exceptional category is increasing because supervisors are looking at ways to compensate staff when there are not other means to increase salaries. He said that it will be important to move into a performance appraisal system that separates this and allows monitoring of performance with specific tools. Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said that the Sheriff's Department has not asked for any positions since 1996 and the workload has increased 100%. He would appreciate anything the County could do for them. Laura Blackmon said that the Sheriff is asking for eight new deputies, and the vehicles come with the positions. There is also some replacement vehicles requested. Other Budget Drivers Laura Blackmon made reference to line#17, Open New County Facilities (including staffing and operating costs), which totals $2.75 million. Line #18 is the Outside Agency Funding of$246,629. Line#19 includes a 5% increase of County Operational Funding Associated with Inflation and Higher Costs. This includes the increase in costs of fuel, utilities, and supplies. Laura Blackmon said that the Board will be receiving the Manager's Recommended Budget during the regular meeting on May 20th Commissioner Nelson said that, during the retreat, the County Commissioners put out ideas for the budget. He asked how these will be factored in and Laura Blackmon said that the management teams are reviewing these, and many ideas are ones that they are already doing and are in the budget. Some of the ideas are long-range and will be coming back to the Board of County Commissioners within the next few weeks. Commissioner Nelson asked which ideas are in the budget and Laura Blackmon gave examples of the Farmers' Market and the animal tethering issue. Commissioner Nelson said that he is concerned that the Board had a retreat in which it discussed projects that needed more emphasis. He said that the way budget processes work the best is if the policy-making body tosses out ideas, discusses them, and then things get considered for the budget. He does not see where the Board has gone through this process. He does not think that this is good policy-making because the Board has tossed out ideas and there,has been no follow-up.