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Class and compensation study recommends new open‑range structure; county staff propose tiered, budget‑constrained implementation
Summary
A consultant recommended a new open‑range countywide pay structure for San Miguel County; county staff proposed a tiered implementation that guarantees at least 2.5% for all employees while prioritizing larger increases for lower‑paid workers and limiting top increases to fit the 2026 budget.
San Miguel County received a class and compensation study from Graves Consulting at the Sept. 10 special meeting and discussed a budget‑constrained approach to implementing the consultant’s pay recommendations.
Laurie Graves of Graves Consulting presented a compensation redesign that keeps one countywide pay structure but replaces a step‑based system with a simplified open‑range model. Graves recommended pay grades spaced at 10% midpoints, narrower entry ranges and wider senior ranges, and moving employees to the same relative point in the new ranges (the same comp‑ratio). That approach is intended to maintain internal equity while giving managers flexibility to reward performance and address market movement.
Graves and county staff discussed how the market data were collected using Colorado Municipal League survey results and national pay datasets; the consultants matched each county job to appropriate market benchmarks, accounted for the county’s resort area context and recommended placements for every position.
County staff then presented several implementation scenarios. A full implementation of Graves’ recommendations — including honoring some compensation adjustments previously made in the sheriff’s operations division — would raise county salary costs by an estimated $801,000 (salary only). Staff proposed a phased, budget‑sensitive implementation: a guaranteed minimum increase of 2.5% for all employees, with higher maximums for lower‑paid staff. Under one preferred scenario county staff modeled during the meeting, employees earning under $40 per hour would receive up to a 10% maximum adjustment, while those at $60 per hour and above would be capped at a 5% maximum. That approach reduced the estimated immediate fiscal impact to about $608,000 in additional salary expense for 2026; staff noted benefits costs would raise total personnel expense further.
Commissioners asked about sequencing and whether the county could revisit remaining gaps in a 2027 update; staff recommended budgeting for a targeted market update next year to keep San Miguel County aligned with neighboring municipalities’ cycles. County managers also noted that historical vacancy rates reduce the full‑budget exposure: historically not all positions are filled simultaneously, which moderates actual cash cost in any single year.
What happens next: County administration will fold the preferred, tiered implementation into the 2026 draft budget while planning a targeted market update for 2027; the board directed staff to proceed with the proposed approach and to return with costed budget options as the process continues.
