Ulster County audit committee reviews Baker Tilly salary study, hears proposal for single 34-grade pay structure

Baker Tilly presented the results of a countywide salary study to the Ulster County Audit Committee on March 18, recommending a single pay structure of 34 grades and nine steps and laying out three implementation scenarios with estimated one‑time first‑year costs.

The study, performed after Resolution 26 of 2022 required a compensation review once every four years, used position analysis questionnaires, a 9‑factor job evaluation tool, and a custom market survey. Jada, a consultant with Baker Tilly, told the committee the firm included internal equity and external market data in its recommendations and that the work covered about 1,426 employees and 424 benchmark positions surveyed.

Why it matters: committee members said the study will inform collective bargaining, hiring and retention discussions and budgeting. Legislators pressed the consultant on apparent discrepancies between local hiring pressures — notably in corrections and dispatch — and the market matches returned by the consultant, and on missing data from several peer municipalities.

Key findings and proposal Baker Tilly described a single pay structure with 34 grades and nine steps, a 5% midpoint differential between most grades, and a consistent 3% distance between steps. The firm reported a 92% R‑squared on a regression comparing internal job‑evaluation scores to market midpoints, which it said supports using one consolidated structure for most county positions. The firm adjusted all market data to a common 2,080‑hour work year and applied geographic cost‑of‑labor adjustments using Economic Research Institute (ERI) indicators (examples cited: Albany +3.7%, Kingston baseline, Poughkeepsie −9.5%, Orange County −8.1%, Dutchess County −9.5%).

Data coverage and limits Baker Tilly said it requested full pay ranges from 14 public peers and several published sources (CompAnalyst, ERI, PayFactors and Bureau of Labor Statistics). The firm reported usable market values for about 76% of surveyed titles; 98 benchmark positions had insufficient market matches (fewer than three good matches at 75% duty overlap). The consultant said fringe benefits and take‑home vehicles were not included in the base‑pay calculations and that benefits data would be gathered separately with county staff and brokers.

Implementation scenarios and employee impact The presentation included three implementation options for first‑year adoption (base pay only): - Scenario 1: place employees on the closest step without any pay decrease — roughly $2.3 million to implement; - Scenario 2: place employees on steps corresponding to years in position (no downward moves) — roughly $5.0 million to implement; - Scenario 3: same as scenario 2 but capped at step 5 (midpoint) — roughly $3.4 million to implement. Baker Tilly reported that of 1,426 employees included in the calculations, about 202 would be below a new minimum, 974 are already within the proposed ranges, and 249 have salaries above the proposed maximum (those employees would be “red‑circled” and retain their current pay).

Questions from legislators and staff Ulster County Legislator Maloney questioned how a single pay structure would interact with multiple collective bargaining agreements and highlighted persistent vacancies and overtime in corrections and other county operations: “We have 30, 40 vacancies consistently. We're running an insane amount of overtime,” Maloney said. The consultant replied that the study provides a compensation framework to use in negotiations and management decisions, while recognizing some job families (for example, correction officers) may require focused benchmarking.

Comptroller Galligan asked about the benefits deliverable and training for county staff; the consultant said benefits comparisons and a training/manual for the county’s job‑evaluation tool will be provided but that the benefits snapshot was still being collected. Committee members also raised concerns that some peer municipalities did not return data (the consultant said five towns did not provide ranges) and that Baker Tilly would not provide raw proprietary algorithm data; committee members noted municipal salary records are publicly obtainable through FOIA.

Decisions and next steps The committee approved the minutes from the Feb. 18 meeting at the start of the session. No vote was taken on the Baker Tilly recommendations during the Audit Committee meeting; members discussed using the study as a tool in bargaining and management, requested further benefits data and training deliverables, and noted the need to address benchmark gaps for certain positions.

Ending Baker Tilly recommended routine maintenance of the class‑and‑compensation system — updating job descriptions, running job evaluations for new or changed positions, and annual structural adjustments — so the county can avoid full revisits of the comprehensive study unless market disruption warrants it.