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Yakima County approves two personnel pay exceptions: assessor lateral and out-of-class coverage
Summary
The Board approved an exception to class-and-comp rules to place an assessor office employee at a higher step and authorized out-of-class pay for a public-services employee on extended medical leave.
The Yakima County Board of County Commissioners approved two human-resources exceptions during its March 24 work session: an exception in the assessor's office to place an internal lateral hire at a higher pay step, and an out-of-class pay authorization for a public services employee covering extended medical leave.
Why it matters: Both items are intended to address operational needs: the assessor's office said it needs to retain an internal applicant and provide incentive for movement into a hard-to-fill appraisal track; public services requested temporary pay to cover duties while an employee is out on extended medical leave.
Assessor lateral exception: Judy, the county human-resources presenter, introduced a request originating from the assessor's office to grant an exception to the county's class-and-comp policy that normally disallows wage increases for lateral moves. Jacob, representing the assessor's office, said the applicant is a program specialist currently at B2-2 step 2 and the office requested placement at B2-2 step 4, producing a 4.04% increase to recognize retention and to align with planned movement to an appraiser role.
Jacob said the assessor's office created the appraiser-specialist classification to build a recruiting pipeline because appraiser vacancies are hard to fill and employees who complete training typically advance to the appraiser classification. He told commissioners those positions were budgeted at B2-4 for 2025 and that the requested step placement would help retain internal staff.
Human-resources staff recommended a smaller concession (step 3) to protect internal equity with recently hired outside appraiser specialists, but commissioners expressed support for the assessor's operational case. After discussion the board signaled consensus to permit the exception at the requested step placement; participants did not record a formal roll-call vote.
Out-of-class pay authorization: The board also approved a public-services administrative request to pay an employee out of class beginning April 1 and ending on or before Sept. 22 to cover duties while another employee is on extended medical leave. Judy said the consistent county practice is to authorize out-of-class pay in six-month intervals, and she reported the requested increase equates to moving from B2-1 to B2-2 (a 7.5% pay differential). Commissioners approved the request by consensus during the work session.
Votes and procedure: Both personnel items were approved by consensus during the discussion; the meeting record shows no formal roll-call tallies for these approvals. Commissioners discussed internal equity concerns but accepted managers' operational explanations and the fiscal availability within existing 2025 budgets.
Ending: Human-resources staff will implement the pay exceptions and adjust payroll as appropriate; the board did not request additional material amendments at the meeting.
