Mount Holly reviews Baker Tilly pay study; council leans toward tenure-based implementation

Baker Tilly presented a final classification and compensation study to the Mount Holly City Council on April 28, outlining recommended changes to the city’s pay structure and several implementation options.

The study found that Mount Holly’s base pay midpoints are below the market average — about 4% below at minimums, 5.5% below at midpoints and 6.3% below at maximums — and recommended a new open-range pay structure aligned to market midpoints. Baker Tilly proposed a 16-grade structure (grades 51–66) with tailored midpoint differentials and narrower range spreads for entry-level roles.

Why it matters: Council members said the study offers a foundation to correct pay compression and retain staff, but emphasized implementation choices will determine whether long-tenured employees and those with certifications receive fair adjustments.

Baker Tilly’s Sarah Towne summarized the methodology: staff and employee Position Analysis Questionnaires (PAQs) were used to evaluate 93 unique positions; 72 positions were benchmarked to peer data (one benchmark had insufficient matches). The firm adjusted peer salaries for geographic cost-of-labor differences and recommended aligning midpoints to market to avoid becoming a “training ground.” Towne said the proposed starting minimum wage under the match-market plan would be $18.33/hour; a temporary lag-market alternative would set the minimum at $17.87/hour.

Council discussion centered on implementation scenarios. Baker Tilly offered four implementation approaches (each also prepared under a slight-lag philosophy): - Option 1: Move employees below a new minimum up to that minimum (30 employees affected) and leave others unchanged. - Option 2: Move to the greater of the new minimum or a flat percentage increase (example: 2%), guaranteeing at least a modest adjustment for eligible employees. - Option 3: Move to minimum plus add 2% per year in the current position (capped at eight years) to address compression; variant 3b targets long‑tenured employees with a different per-year schedule. - Red-circling: Baker Tilly said three employees currently fall above the new ranges and would be frozen (no pay decreases).

Council members repeatedly raised the need to address historical implementation harms and individual equity (promotions that produced only small percent increases, employees with certifications, and long‑tenured staff who have not reached midpoint). Several council members said they prefer Option 3 (the tenure-weighted recalibration) as the best balance of fairness and fiscal practicality. Finance staff indicated the scenarios can be tailored to fit the upcoming FY26 budget without a tax-rate increase; city staff pledged to bring refined cost impacts and policy recommendations back during the budget process.

No formal final adoption of a pay plan or implementation scenario occurred at the meeting. Instead, council directed staff to incorporate the study into the FY26 budget work and recommended additional review of pay policies (promotion steps, certification differentials, and merit procedures) so the council and department heads can apply targeted adjustments for individual cases.

Towne said all project documentation and PAQs will be delivered to the city so HR can maintain the SAFE job-evaluation system and grade assignments going forward. She recommended maintaining annual market monitoring and periodic full studies every 3–5 years with regular maintenance in between.

Follow-up: Staff will return with implementation cost details for the budget process, proposals for handling certification/merit policies, and recommended administrative steps for applying the SAFE evaluation in routine classification decisions.