Council members and staff spent substantial time Aug. 2 reviewing employee pay and benefits after several council members raised recruitment and retention concerns.
Staff recommendation and numbers: Finance staff and department leads presented estimates for three items under consideration: a roughly $1.0'0.0 million annual range to raise staff pay toward metro-area midpoints; an illustrative $500,000 annual placeholder to subsidize dependent health coverage (staff estimated 50% cost-share could be feasible); and a request to fill an HR generalist position to centralize pay-and-benefits work.
Why it matters: Council members said recruitment and retention pressures in public-works, public-safety and other departments threaten service delivery as the city grows; several council members favored faster pay adjustments to reach a competitive midpoint with surrounding jurisdictions.
Key points made in the discussion:
- The pay-gap estimates were derived from comparative studies of peer cities and departments (staff said bringing all departments to a mid-point would likely be in the $0.75'0.0 million range; a broader estimate mentioned was about $1.5 million).