Roanoke Rapids City Manager Kelly Traynham said staff is working on a cost analysis associated with a proposed draft pay and classification study which was presented to the council Tuesday night.
“We have to look at the impacts on retirement rates, FICA, social security,” and other factors, she said.
The study prepared by the MAPS Group notes that the costs in the report do not reflect the cost of benefits associated with the salaries.
“We recommend that the city manager have the flexibility to withhold any adjustments for employees with documented disciplinary action in the last 12 months until their performance is demonstrated to meet the organization’s needs for their position,” the report says. “It will be important for the city to fund an aggressive merit pay system as well as adjust the ranges each year with cost-of-living increase to maintain a competitive position in the market and to advance employees to where they should be within the salary ranges, thus addressing the compression problem.”
In the draft report submitted to the council, the MAPS Group says the salary ranges recommended are approximately 60 percent from minimum to maximum, a reflection of the markets surveyed. There is a 5 percent spread between each pay grade. “An open-range salary schedule has been recommended to provide flexibility in providing in-range salary increases.”
The draft continues, “When annual market adjustments are made to pay ranges to account for inflation and local labor market changes, the whole table should reflect the adjustment, thus maintaining competitive entry level rates of pay.”
The MAPS Group recommends that the new pay plan go into effect along with the recommended salary adjustments. “Transition to a new plan is not meant to change every pay decision, promotion or other changes in salary that have occurred over the tenure of the employee; nor is it meant to suggest the new pay structure should be retroactive to the day an employee was hired. The foundation of the implementation cost calculation is one that is forward-looking and does not look back on how current salaries came about.”
For employees whose current salary level is below the minimum level in the assigned range, the salary is recommended to be placed at the minimum of the new range.
For employees with salary levels exceeding the maximum level in the assigned range, the salary is recommended to be frozen at that level and the employee would be ineligible for any merit or COLA increases until the range is adjusted to allow movement.
“The placement of employees within the newly proposed salary plan is based on a formula that includes (an employee’s) total years of service to the city as well as time in their current position,” the draft says. “No salary for any employee is recommended for reduction.”
