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Consultant: Batesburg-Leesville pay ranges well below peers; 21-grade plan and phased implementation proposed
Summary
Consultant Maryanne Oyas told the Batesburg-Leesville council that many town pay ranges average about 30% below peer organizations and recommended a 21-pay-grade structure with multi-step ranges; she outlined three implementation options and said full implementation costs (base payroll) in the report, and that including benefits could raise the one-time implementation to roughly three-quarters of a million dollars.
Maryanne Oyas of The Archer Company presented a year-long compensation and classification study to the Batesburg-Leesville Town Council on Feb. 23 and urged the town to adopt a formal pay plan to help hire and retain staff.
Oyas said the study scored every town job, placed positions into 21 pay grades and compared the town’s pay ranges to a locally defined peer group. “Your pay ranges are… averaging about 30% below market,” she said, adding that a formal structure makes pay decisions predictable and fair.
The study included a market assessment, internal job evaluation and three options for bringing current employees onto new ranges. Oyas said roughly 37 employees were identified as paid below the minimums recommended for their roles and walked council through three implementation approaches: (1) raise the most underpaid employees to the new minimums, (2) map current salaries to the closest step in the new structure, and (3) a costlier compression/reward option that gives longer-tenured employees higher placement within ranges.
Council members asked about peer selection and private-sector comparisons; Oyas said peers were chosen by the project team and department heads based on where the town hires and loses employees. She described the proposed step plan as 20 steps per grade with step-to-step progress typically around 2.5% and said steps and cost-of-living decisions remain council budget choices.
On implementation costs, staff and the consultant clarified the report shows estimated base payroll increases and that adding benefits would materially raise the total one-time cost; one exchange in the meeting noted that if base payroll implementation were “about a half a million,” including benefits would put the total closer to “three-quarters of a million dollars.” Oyas said phased implementation over two to three years is common for towns this size.
The council did not vote on plan adoption at the session; members requested job descriptions, costing scenarios, and additional detail on peer matches and implementation timing before a future decision.
The council’s next step is to review the full report and the provided executive summary, examine the proposed job descriptions, and schedule follow-up budget discussions before any formal adoption or appropriation.
