Council gives consultant direction on pay study: use ‘all’ comparables, match market and adopt step plan

The Common Council directed Carlson Dettman Consulting to use a combined public-and-private comparables pool, to position the city to match the market, and to design a traditional step pay plan, with a final pay-plan ordinance or resolution expected for consideration at the Nov. 18 meeting.

Consultant Mr. Carlson (Carlson Dettman Consulting) told council members his firm’s analysis covered a little over 200 employees and more than 100 job classifications; approximately half of the classifications could be closely matched to external benchmarks. He said the firm produced three comparable sets (cities only; public sector only; public plus private) and that the overall market index did not vary substantially across the sets. He recommended the council pick the comparable group it preferred so the firm could draft full pay-plan options.

Councilors discussed three policy choices Carlson presented: (1) the market-comparables set, (2) whether to position the city above/match/below market, and (3) whether to adopt a traditional step system or a variable (performance-based) pay plan. Carlson recommended the combined public-and-private pool, urged against choosing below-market positioning, and advised that the council was not yet ready to adopt a wide variable pay-for-performance system without more development of performance measurement and training.

Councilor Sweeney asked whether fringe benefits were included in the market comparisons; Carlson replied benefits were not included in the pay figures and that the city had taken steps in its health program that mitigated direct benefit comparisons. Councilor Herrick asked whether the consultant had aged data forward to reflect a planned 2% 2015 adjustment; Carlson said he had not included the 2% in the presented results but would “age” the data forward and incorporate the 2% when preparing the pay-plan proposal for the council.

On council motions, members voted (voice) to adopt the consultant’s recommendation to use all comparables (public and private), to position pay to match the market and to implement a step pay system with the consultant returning recommended pay ranges and an appeal process for incumbents. Carlson said the firm expects to return a drafted pay plan for council consideration at the Nov. 18 meeting.