Consultant recommends anchoring Newton pay scales to 60th percentile; commission asks for budget options

Newton — Melena Halverson Mays of McGrath Human Resources Group on Thursday presented a final compensation and classification study to the City Commission of Newton, recommending the city anchor its salary schedule to the 60th percentile of comparable jurisdictions, restructure pay grades and standardize longevity and certification pay.

The recommendation matters because the consultant said the changes would make Newton more competitive for recruits and address turnover and compression in the current pay structure. Mays and city staff told the commission they will provide additional budget scenario details at the next budget work session so commissioners can decide how, and whether, to implement the changes.

Mays told commissioners the study reviewed Newton’s classification system (job titles and hierarchy) and compensation system (how salaries are assigned to those titles). She summarized workforce demographics and turnover: the city’s average tenure is 8.4 years (compared with a national local‑government figure cited in her presentation), about 14% of employees are age 55 or older, roughly 50% of the workforce is under 40, and resignations accounted for roughly 62% of turnover in the recent three‑year period while retirements accounted for about 14%.

On structure, Mays recommended keeping a step model that is familiar to employees but updating it. Her proposal would: expand Newton’s pay framework from 17 to 21 pay grades; reduce steps from 15 to 13 while retaining a 3% step value; compress the overall range to about a 43% spread; and anchor the salary schedule to a market reference placed in column/step E. She also proposed placing employees at the nearest…