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ITD seeks targeted pay increases for maintenance crews, cites retention and training costs
Summary
Idaho Transportation Department proposed targeted CEC (career‑entry compensation) increases and requested pay‑step adjustments for maintenance horizontal career paths to retain workers, reduce turnover and recoup training costs; lawmakers asked for market comparisons and implementation details.
The Idaho Transportation Department asked the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee to approve targeted compensation enhancements for frontline maintenance staff, citing high turnover and training costs.
ITD asked to raise the pay schedule for about 505 maintenance positions — transportation technicians and team leaders — by $2.50 per hour across horizontal career steps, which the department said would elevate starting rates and reduce year‑one attrition. Director Scott Stokes told legislators the agency has averaged roughly 78 maintenance departures per year over the last three years from a maintenance workforce of about 400, which forces repeated recruitment and training cycles.
"Having experienced and institutional knowledge is the key thing for us," Stokes said, describing the time and expense required to hire staff with Class‑A commercial driver licenses and to train employees to operate snowplows and other heavy equipment.
The department also reported progress hiring positions added by last year's workforce appropriation: of 53 new frontline FTPs approved in FY2025, ITD reported approximately 50 hired and still listed about 60–70 total vacancies across the agency.
Lawmakers asked for wage‑survey comparisons and raised the usual budgetary concern that private or local governments may match or beat state pay increases. ITD said it maintains a statewide map comparing county and city pay rates and that many local governments start maintenance workers at $20–$25 an hour, higher than ITD's entry rate before adjustments. Committee members pressed ITD to return with precise survey data and a plan for how any CEC changes would be implemented alongside other statewide compensation decisions.
Lawmakers and ITD staff also discussed retention patterns: ITD said retention improves after employees reach roughly five years of service, but the largest turnover is among year‑one employees who have not completed full CDL and equipment training.
ITD described the targeted CEC as a horizontal career‑path adjustment: rather than only raising entry rates, the request would shift the entire pay schedule upward to avoid compression between career steps.
