County presents 2025 budget update and HR pay-equity proposal that would affect roughly 1,200 classified employees

Cuyahoga County administration presented a 2025 budget update to council that proposes revenue and expenditure adjustments and includes an HR-led pay-equity initiative for nonbargaining classified employees.

Director John Kenick of the county’s HR compensation team said the office reviewed internal pay inequities across classifications and recommended a systematic equity adjustment rather than ad hoc raises. “We were getting an unusually high number of requests from department leadership and even from employees themselves to review pay,” Kenick said, describing a consultant study of about 1,200 classified employees and formulas intended to bring pay closer to midpoints established in the county pay schedule.

Kenick said the county’s current schedule assigns comparable jobs to the same pay grade, but historic hiring choices and market adjustments had created disparities across departments, with some comparable positions paid substantially more than others. He described examples where a senior supervisor in one department earned significantly more than a…