Montgomery council reviews Evergreen Solutions pay and classification study; no formal action taken

MONTGOMERY, April 21, 2025 — Evergreen Solutions LLC presented its final compensation and classification study to the City of Montgomery City Council at a workshop Monday, outlining recommended pay ranges, title adjustments and two principal approaches for placing employees within new salary ranges. Council members asked questions but took no formal action; the council will consider adopting a plan during the city’s upcoming budget process.

The study, presented by Michael, a presenter for Evergreen Solutions LLC, reported that most jobs in the city were appropriately classified but recommended some title changes to align duties with market norms. “We found that pay compression between employees and supervisors was not a present concern,” Michael said, citing the firm’s market survey and regional cost-of-living adjustments used to compare Montgomery with peer jurisdictions.

Evergreen presented two broad placement models: an open-range approach and a step-based placement approach that credits employees for years in class. The consultant described how range placement would slot current employees between a minimum and a notional midpoint to reflect tenure without reducing existing wages. Michael said the firm mapped a set of adjustments across classifications and listed counts for affected slots during the presentation: “there’ll be 8 adjusted for here, 12 adjusted for here, 10 adjusted for here, and 31,” referring to positions requiring range placement adjustments.

Council members asked procedural and technical questions about the study’s timeline and assumptions. One council member asked when the study began; Michael said the work formally began in the fall and that he started his portion on Nov. 18. Another member asked whether a Jan. 1 cost-of-living increase of 5% had been included; Michael answered that the firm had the updated roster and that the adjustment had been taken into account in the analysis.

The presentation addressed regional comparators and cost-of-living adjustments — for example, how pay in The Woodlands or College Station differs from Montgomery — and explained that the market survey adjusted offers for regional differences. Evergreen emphasized that the study did not evaluate staffing volume (number of staff) as a proxy for workload; instead, the firm compared current salaries to midpoints in peer pay structures.

The study also outlined follow-up items that were not part of the core pay-range placement: certification or incentive pay (for CDL, trade certifications and finance certifications such as the Certified Government Finance Officer) and programmatic incentive pay structures. Michael told the council that incentive and certification pay are typically addressed as a next step after establishing base ranges.

Council members requested the final report and job descriptions. Michael said the final report and job-description flowchart would be delivered to city staff this week; the consultant estimated the report would be in the “twenties or thirties” of pages and said the presentation materials did not change substantially from the draft. The consultant also said the city would see projected costs with a target effective date presented as Oct. 1, to allow the council to incorporate implementation choices into the budget.

No ordinance, resolution or pay changes were adopted at the workshop. The session concluded with routine closing business and a motion to adjourn that passed by voice vote, with the mayor or presiding chair stating the motion carried 7–0–2.

The council indicated that it will use the consultant’s final report and the compensation options during the upcoming budget deliberations to choose whether to implement an open-range plan, a step-based range-placement plan, or another hybrid. Staff and department heads were asked to review the job descriptions and to prepare budget variants tied to the possible implementation scenarios.