Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Compensation Wage Study topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Consultant: Hancock County largely at market but several leadership roles sharply underpaid; commissioners set 4% budget guidance
Summary
A July 7 presentation of a county wage study found Hancock County pay near the 50th percentile overall but identified several leadership roles — notably the human resources director, emergency management and facilities directors, plus cybersecurity roles — as substantially underpaid; commissioners directed staff to plan phased adjustments and to prepare budgets using a 4% COLA assumption.
David Turetsky, a consultant who conducted a compensation study for Hancock County, told commissioners on July 7 that overall county pay is close to the median among peer counties but that a small set of leadership positions show large gaps. "There's a $93,000 gap," Turetsky said, referring to the difference between the county's pay and one private-market benchmark, and added that "we're paying half of the market for the HR director" for some comparisons.
Turetsky said the study used three data sources — county FOIA data, ERI and Payscale — and produced a blended composite to show where Hancock County stands relative to both public and private markets. He said 13 positions have measurable gaps and flagged the human resources director, emergency management director and facilities director, and several cybersecurity and finance roles as the most at risk of turnover.
Commissioners debated how quickly to close gaps. Some favored phased adjustments tied to the size of the disparity, with larger gaps spread over three years and smaller imbalances addressed sooner. County staff and commissioners discussed balancing a flat cost-of-living adjustment for next year with separate, targeted pay adjustments for underpaid positions.
At the end of the discussion, commissioners instructed staff to work with individual departments on phased recommendations and budget impacts and told administration to ask departments to "prepare your budget at 4%," a budgetary planning target communicated to department heads. Staff said they will return department-by-department recommendations and spreadsheets showing the fiscal effects of proposed adjustments.
Why it matters: Several high-skill, hard-to-replace positions were identified as significantly below market, which the consultant and commissioners said could increase turnover risk and affect continuity in public-safety and administrative functions. The commission’s guidance to budget at 4% provides a near-term planning assumption but does not itself change pay; any targeted adjustments will return to the commission for approval.
What’s next: Staff will work with department heads and finance to model phased pay adjustments and include recommendations in upcoming budget hearings. The commission will review those department-specific proposals before awarding funding or adjusting pay scales.
