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Consultant urges 3% pay adjustment to align county salaries with market
Summary
Dr. Victoria McGrath told Lincoln County commissioners a targeted compensation review finds most positions near market but recommends a 3% across-the-board increase for nonbargaining pay schedules and phased step eliminations to keep the county competitive as many employees near retirement.
Dr. Victoria McGrath, CEO of McGrath Human Resources Group, recommended that Lincoln County add 3% to its nonbargaining salary schedule to bring most positions into alignment with the external market and with Minnehaha County.
McGrath presented data showing the county’s average years of service is 7.21 years and that employees over 50 have the longest tenure, while 42% of staff are under 40 and likely to be more mobile. “If you add 3% of the current schedule, that you are gonna become in line for the vast preponderance of your positions with both the average market rate and Minnehaha,” McGrath said.
Why it matters: commissioners and staff said the recommendation could affect the 2027 budget. McGrath described this as a focused compensation study—not a full classification review—and suggested a comprehensive classification and compensation study in 2028 or 2029 to revisit salary-step structure and long-term pay strategy.
Details: McGrath reviewed comp ratios (position pay relative to market), reported that roughly 60% of positions’ starting salaries are aligned to market, and noted step compression from a 17-step schedule. She recommended eliminating early steps over time (starting by removing steps 1–3 for 2026 and phasing further reductions as low steps “clear out”) and adding specific pay-grade moves for some positions (for example, splitting planner into planner and senior planner).
Commissioner questions focused on whether 3% was the ‘‘bottom line’’ and whether any surprises emerged from the analysis. McGrath said the county’s structure is broadly sound but that the long top-end schedule and step overlap are concerns: ‘‘17 steps is a lot… it makes it a very large range from minimum to maximum,’’ she said.
Next steps: human resources distributed the full report by email; commissioners asked staff to reflect the recommendation in budget planning and to consider whether a broader classification study is warranted in later years.
