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Citizens Compensation Advisory Committee recommends 3.5% salary-budget increase, priorities for market adjustments
Summary
The CCAC presented its 2026 report to the council recommending the city increase overall salary budgets by at least 3.5% and adjust pay-range structures by 2.5%, with priority market adjustments for roles identified as significantly lagging, including certain entry-level public-safety positions.
The Citizens Compensation Advisory Committee presented its 2026 report to the Salt Lake City Council at the March 10 work session, recommending that the city increase the overall salary budget by no less than 3.5% and adjust salary-range structures by 2.5% to remain competitive in the local labor market.
Claire Baldwin, CCAC chair, said the committee reviewed market data and a custom salary survey covering 88 benchmark groups across the city’s 174 active jobs; those benchmarks represent roughly 43.5% of the city’s regular full-time workforce. The committee’s analysis grouped jobs into three primary workgroups—non-represented employees, 'ask me' (a bargaining group in active negotiation), and public safety (police and fire)—and compared current actual median wages to market 50th-percentile data aged to July 1, 2026.
The committee recommended a 3.5% total salary increase for base wages (administered via general increases, merit, or combination) and a 2.5% adjustment to salary-range structures to address compressions and progression within pay scales. It further advised that market salary adjustments be prioritized for benchmark jobs identified as significantly lagging, with public-safety entry-level wages noted as an area of concern.
Council members thanked the committee for the analysis and asked clarifying questions about how total-rewards packages (benefits, retirement) factor into recruitment and how public safety benchmarks are identified. The committee emphasized that their recommendations are statistics-based and that collective bargaining processes will determine final outcomes for represented groups.
What’s next: the CCAC’s recommendations will inform the mayor’s and council’s budget deliberations. The committee urged that funds be appropriated, as available, to grant market adjustments for critically lagging benchmarks.
