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York County board directs administrator to implement 70th‑percentile pay plan after consultant recommends $8.04M adjustment
Summary
After a presentation by Management Advisory Group that showed many county jobs lag market starting pay, the York County Board voted to authorize the county administrator to implement the study’s recommendations toward the 70th percentile (estimated cost $8,040,546), with staged funding across fiscal years.
The York County Board of Supervisors voted Dec. 2 to authorize the county administrator to implement recommendations from a countywide compensation and classification study that aim to bring county pay levels to the 70th percentile of peer markets.
Dr. Russell Campbell, senior vice president at Management Advisory Group (MAG), presented the study’s methodology and findings. MAG analyzed roughly 338 unique job classifications and nearly 865 employees, used a quantitative job‑factor scoring system and market data from seven peer jurisdictions plus Bureau of Labor Statistics private‑sector information, and applied linear regression to map job scores to pay grades. Campbell said the regression fit for the study was about 93.5%.
The market analysis found multiple job types below peer starting salaries: deputy sheriffs (~10% behind), building inspectors (~10.2% behind), some utility construction roles (~11% behind), paralegals (~13% behind), master firefighter (~13.4% behind) and fire lieutenant (~17.6% behind); tax collection specialist roles trailed by about 23.2% on average. Based on the county’s current job composition and pay ranges, MAG estimated the county’s overall position near the 50th percentile.
MAG recommended raising county pay to the 70th percentile to improve recruitment and retention and proposed keeping current benefit offerings largely unchanged. The consultant provided modeled implementation scenarios and said that moving to the 70th percentile would require a one‑time market adjustment estimated at $8,040,546 to address market adjustments, minimum adjustments and salary compression. MAG also modeled that, under the proposal, the lowest county pay would be $20.04 per hour.
Board members debated funding and timing. Finance staff said York County has approximately $3 million in one‑time carryover funds that could be applied immediately and that full budgetary effects of the adjustment would be phased across fiscal years with the intent to minimize a single‑year spike; staff noted reassessment revenue expected in 2027 would also be considered in planning. Several supervisors said they wanted a concrete implementation road map and public communications plan showing how the increases would be phased and funded before moving forward with tax or budget changes.
Following that discussion, board member Holroyd moved resolution R‑25‑177, authorizing the county administrator to take “all actions necessary to implement the recommendations of the compensation study at the seventieth percentile level within the fiscal year 26 and fiscal year 27 budgets” and to plan to close the $8,040,546 gap. On roll call the clerk recorded on‑the‑record ‘Yes’ responses by Mister Holroyd, Mister Rome, Mister Shepherd and Missus Noll; the clerk announced the motion carried.
The board directed staff to develop budget implementation scenarios and to return with a detailed plan showing the schedule, funding sources, and communication steps for public review as part of the FY27 budget process.
