Consultant: Mount Pleasant pay study shows gaps; short-term fixes could cost millions, tax impact unclear

Shane, the city's external compensation consultant, presented a benchmarked compensation study to the Mount Pleasant City Council on July 7, saying the report compares every city position against peer communities and recommends modest grade changes to address compression and promotion gaps.

Shane said the handout shows each position's midpoint against both a full cohort and a rural-peer cohort and that the study's purpose is to provide a defensible foundation for future policy and budget decisions rather than to authorize pay increases immediately. "It is not a request for you to adopt anything," he told the council.

The presentation identified several groups of positions below the peer 50th percentile and recommended moving some roles into higher grades to create clearer promotion paths. He pointed to telecommunicator grade changes and to police and fire classification adjustments designed to strengthen mid-career retention: "Officer-to-sergeant previously was about 10% premium. This takes it to just around 24%," Shane said, describing the proposed premium increases.

Shane provided short-term cost estimates for targeted changes: roughly $60,000 for telecommunications adjustments, about $140,000 for police changes and about $188,000 for fire changes. He also presented broader scenarios showing that ensuring all records met peer minimums would cost about $3,424,000 (roughly 3.81% of total payroll) and that larger options could add up to roughly $6,061,000.

Mayor (S1) asked directly whether the study implied a property tax increase. The city manager (Staff member S2) answered that staff will aim to balance services within the budget and that any decision on taxes depends on the city's debt-service obligations and final numbers from the tax assessor. "If there were to be any increase in taxes, then we don't know what that looks like yet," S2 said, noting the tax assessor will present updated figures at a future budget workshop.

Council members asked for clarification on the ranking method and requested position-level starting salaries and step-plan details for firefighters, police officers and other roles; staff said those details are in the report and will be shared publicly. Shane said the alternatives and more detailed modeling will appear in his final written report.

The council did not vote on pay changes; Shane asked only for endorsement that the analysis is complete and defensible to support later policy and budget work. Staff and Shane confirmed the presentation packet and the peer-by-peer detail sheet will be emailed to council members and posted for public review. The council scheduled follow-up budget workshops (including a planned July 21 session with the tax assessor) to review numbers and any proposals before considering formal action.