Crystal City officials have implemented recommendations from a recently completed salary study, including updaters to about 35 job descriptions and updates to pay ranges for each job in the city, as well as pay increases for employees who weren’t making what the updated pay ranges called for, City Administrator Jason Eisenbeis said.
He said the study showed that most of the city’s employees already were being paid within the recommended ranges for their positions, but longtime employees received longevity pay increases. About 48 of the city’s approximately 60 employees received a pay raise.
Eisenbeis said the longevity pay increases helped to prevent compression among employee pay.
“Compression occurs over time when new employees and employees with experience are close together in pay,” Eisenbeis explained.
He said the biggest change was in the Crystal City Police Department, which was the furthest behind in terms of competitive wages. Therefore, police officers received the largest increases.
In addition, firefighters received raises. “We increased fire call and fire practice pay for our volunteer firefighters by $1 per call, respectively. We also increased the monthly pay for the fire chief by $100 per month to $550 per month and $50 per month for the assistant chief and captain to $350 per month,” Eisenbeis said.
All the raises given because of the study recommendations will cost the city approximately $258,000, he said.
Eisenbeis said additional costs related to the study include increases in the city’s tax, retirement and workers compensation obligations, which are based on a percentage of the total payroll.
He said no employees received a decrease in pay due to the study, which was completed in mid-June by the Austin Peters Group, Inc., a human resources consulting service based in Fort Collins, Colo.
Eisenbeis said the purpose of the study was not just to give the city’s employees raises.
“The study was done to ensure that the city has competitive wages and benefits in the market, which helps us attract and retain employees,” he said. “The goal after receiving the study was to ensure everyone was at the minimum of their respective pay range; if they weren’t at the minimum, they were brought up to the minimum.”
Eisenbeis said the study also included a market comparison of benefits like retirement, insurance, holidays, vacation and incentives.
The salary study did not recommend any changes to those benefits, he said.
Eisenbeis said the study took about six months to complete and cost the city approximately $23,500.
The process started with the Austin Peters Group sending questionnaires to employees, department heads and Eisenbeis himself, as well as conducting site visits. The company also collected salary and benefit data, such as general compensation, benefits (health, vision and dental insurance, retirement, and leave), and incentives. All the collected information was compared to similar local jobs to check market competitiveness and then was used to develop pay minimums and maximums for each position.
In early April, before the study was completed, city employees across the board were given a 4 percent pay increase, which cost the city approximately $100,000, Eisenbeis said.
“The city has been able to give some generous safety incentive payments to employees over the last few years, but it has been several years since we’ve been able to give across-the-board raises for all our employees,” he said.
The City Council voted unanimously June 26 to adopt the recommendations from the study. Mayor Mike Osher said he was pleased the city could implement the recommendations.
“Several of our employees had been underpaid for the service they provide to the community. The salary study identified that, and we were able to make adjustments to accommodate. The council unanimously approved the new pay ranges which I fully supported and applaud their decision.”