Council approves 3% supplemental pay increase tied to implementation of pay‑classification study

After extended discussion about the recently completed pay‑classification study, the Town of Smithfield council voted 4–2 to implement the manager’s recommended plan and to add an immediate supplemental 3% pay increase for about 51 positions that the study did not move.

Councilman Scott, who made the motion, said the supplemental 3% would help address pay compression for longer‑tenured employees and that the increase should take effect in December so it does not compound with the salary‑study adjustments in January. “This 3% would be, implemented... I think he recommended December because it has to be before January,” Councilman Scott said in moving the plan.

The manager and staff reviewed fiscal impacts: adding the 3% now would cost roughly $75,200 across the town’s three major funds in the current fiscal year and would increase next fiscal year budget needs (staff cited approximate additional needs of $51,582 for the electric fund, $64,852 for water and sewer and $243,455 for the general fund). Staff reminded council that a 2% increase already had been implemented earlier in the year and that the 3% was intended to bring the combined increase closer to a previously budgeted 5% allocation for employees.

Several councilmembers emphasized the study’s job‑based focus — not individual circumstances — and debated whether adding a blanket supplement would undermine the study’s purpose. One councilmember noted the study is designed to set pay ranges for positions rather than to adjust pay for individuals. After discussion, the council voted to approve the manager’s plan with the additional 3%; the chair recorded the result as 4 to 2.

Council clarified that the supplemental 3% does not include the police department’s recent separate $10,000 increase, except for specified accreditation and administrative positions that staff said still need to reach new minimums.