Council asks staff to analyze pay grades, health benefits and one-time ARPA options for employees and first responders

Charlotte City Council asked staff to return with a set of cost analyses tied to employee compensation and benefits, and whether unallocated one-time ARPA revenue replacement could be used to address near-term gaps.

Councilmember LaWanna Mayfield told the council she had proposed, as part of her adjustments, that some of the $5.3 million in ARPA revenue replacement be set aside to address staff needs. "If we're gonna spend any other 5.3, we learned last Monday that we have city staff that have had to utilize services and the amazing work that the HR department is doing under Sheila's leadership. I would say we put a million, a million 5 over a 3 year period there to help with that," Mayfield said.

Multiple council members requested specific analyses from staff:

- The cost of advancing city pay grades and a question about moving certain staff to a higher minimum or target grade (several councilmembers asked staff to provide current grade distributions and the fiscal impact of raising the minimum toward $24'$25 per hour). Marie Harris and Manager Marcus Jones confirmed staff aims to provide a pay-grade briefing.

- Paid parental leave policy scope: Councilmember Aisha Ajmera asked staff to clarify whether paid parental leave covers miscarriages and stillbirths and requested staff estimate the fiscal effect of extending coverage.

- Health care out-of-pocket costs for first responders: Mayfield and others raised concerns from firefighter and police staff about high out-of-pocket medical costs and asked staff to research whether a grant or other one-time funding could offset those costs.

- The council also raised the broader question of whether one-time ARPA funds should be used to shore up costs that could imply ongoing commitments. Several members, including Matt Mitchell and others, warned against using one-time ARPA revenue to create continuing obligations. "I wouldn't want to make multi-year commitments or even implied multi-year commitments from the ARPA funds," Mitchell said.

Staff responses and direction: City Manager Marcus Jones and Human Resources representatives acknowledged the requests and said staff would provide the analyses. Jones told the council staff would return information on pay-grade distributions, cost estimates for raising minimum hourly pay, the fiscal impact of extending parental-leave coverage to miscarriages and stillbirths, and options to address first-responder health out-of-pocket costs.

Why it matters: Pay grades and benefits affect city workforce recruitment and retention and can have immediate effects on public safety staffing and service delivery. First responders told council members that some out-of-pocket health costs can exceed $4,000, and council members argued the city should examine short-term relief options while avoiding unsustainable recurring commitments.

Next steps: Staff will provide requested cost estimates and policy options to the council and include those items in the same review and straw-vote process staff is preparing for the overall budget adjustments.