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Lewisville staff outline pay, retention and benefits trade-offs ahead of budget retreat
Summary
City HR staff presented detailed compensation data showing lower vacancy but persistent turnover, outlined options to balance recruitment versus retention, and warned of multi-million-dollar costs if the city moved fully to top-market pay; council asked for refined numbers and retirements-excluded metrics.
Human resources staff presented a data-heavy compensation and benefits update to the Lewisville City Council, saying the city stands at roughly an 11.5% turnover rate and about 4% job vacancy while fielding choices about how to allocate limited budget resources between recruitment and retention. Ted Phillips, identified in agenda materials as the city’s human resources director, led the briefing and said the city employs about 900 full‑time employees and that a 2023 compensation study added about $5 million to updated pay structures.
Phillips said the city has narrowed recruitment problems but faces retention pressure for upskilled staff who are being actively recruited by other agencies. “Retention of upskilled staff who are being actively recruited is our key challenge today,” Phillips said, and he explained the tools staff use to address that challenge: market-competitive structures, merit/step increases for step-based roles, and a job-family progression program that allows some employees to progress without waiting for supervisory openings.
The presentation showed police and fire step schedules that advance officers relatively quickly to top pay and noted that roughly 68% of those employees are currently topped out, limiting their ability to receive step increases without changing the underlying structure. Phillips also described open-range roles (the majority of city positions), a job-family progression program introduced in 2024 with roughly 180 eligible employees, and other pay levers such as certification, bilingual and field-training officer stipends (the latter currently $180 per month).
On benefits, staff said the city is conducting a request-for-proposals for employee medical and related products and is planning scenarios that could increase employee medical contributions by about 11% next year (tiered by plan). Phillips gave an example of fiscal trade-offs: a rough scenario showing approximately $3.1 million to advance recruitment and $1.6 million to fund retention steps, noting the city does not currently have all of those funds available and would refine recommendations during the budget process.
Council members asked for clarifications. One councilor requested turnover numbers that exclude retirements; staff later reported a 12.92% turnover including retirements over the prior 365 days and 10.67% excluding retirements. Phillips told the council staff will return with refined figures and formal recommendations during upcoming budget work sessions and the August 8 retreat.
The presentation also flagged the tuition-reimbursement cap ($1,500 per year), which staff said has limited take-up relative to peer cities (median reimbursements of roughly $3,000 in the benchmark set), and the ongoing cost of employees progressing through job-family steps (staff estimated about 26 employees would become eligible for progression-based increases in the coming fiscal year). The council did not take action at the meeting; staff will return with more detailed cost and policy options.
