AutoSolve recommends raising New Prague pay minimums and expanding step structure to stay market-competitive

AutoSolve consultants presented a compensation and classification study to the New Prague City Council, saying the city’s current pay structure is roughly 3.4% below the average market minimum after adjusting peer data for local cost of living. Alex, AutoSolve’s senior compensation consultant, said the shortfall informed the firm’s recommendation to bring proposed minimums to market average and to adjust the pay plan structure. "We found based on the market data... you guys were about 3.4% below the market minimum," Alex said.

The firm outlined a three-part methodology: a current pay-plan review, an anonymous employee survey and position-description questionnaires to update job descriptions, and an external market survey using about 17–18 peer employers, adjusted by a county-level cost-of-living index identified in the presentation. Jeff Turner, AutoSolve’s president, said the market peers and the cost-of-living factor were used to produce apples-to-apples comparisons across jurisdictions.

Key recommendations included establishing 16 pay grades with a 46% range spread (minimum to maximum), increasing the number of steps for full-time employees from 11 to 15 while keeping a uniform step progression of about 2.74%, and creating a separate part-time plan that starts at $12 per hour and reaches about $20.40 at the maximum. Alex said the step structure aimed to make progression predictable: "The step progression is 2.74% ... it's going to be the same and uniform throughout."

Staff and consultants provided estimated costs for implementation. The firm estimated the full-time plan changes would cost roughly $207,000 (about a 4.94% increase for affected budgets), part-time changes about $7,000 for 41 part-time employees, and a combined citywide impact near $214,000 (roughly a 3.56% increase), which the city staff translated to approximately $2,500 per affected employee. Joshua (city staff) told the council that the city has already budgeted a preliminary 4% cost-of-living allowance; if the council adopted the new plan the city would need to map employees onto the new steps, which staff estimated would leave a roughly $5,000 shortfall in the current levy scenario that could be found via budget adjustments.

Council members pressed on practical effects and trade-offs. Several members, including Matt, said turnover has been high in some departments—"10 out of my 14 employees in the last five years," Matt said when describing parks staffing losses—and argued the city needs a plan that helps retention. Other members warned the structural change expands the long-term wage bill because employees who previously would have been at maximum pay could gain additional step increases under the expanded step schedule.

AutoSolve also told the council it can exclude outlier peer data when a peer’s pay ranges are materially different; the firm said it throws out data beyond two standard deviations. The consultants noted that pay-equity work was included in the contract deliverables and that the city is due to submit state pay-equity information in the coming cycle.

The council did not take a formal vote on adopting the recommendations at the special meeting; members said they would review the study, consider budget options at their upcoming budget session, and return to the consultants with follow-up questions. The council adjourned at the end of the meeting.