The Jefferson County Health Department Board of Trustees recently approved another round of pay raises for many of its employees.
The board voted 4-0 Dec. 30 to approve up to $161,244 in performance pay raises. Board member Dennis Diehl was absent from the meeting.
Executive Director Steve Sikes stressed that the latest raises were separate from the staff raises approved in October that went into effect Nov. 16 as a result of a monthslong compensation study.
“This (most recent one) is their merit raise based on performance,” Sikes said. “We just completed all the performance reviews. All the employees get a yearly review.”
Brianne Zwiener, a spokesperson for the Health Department, said on Jan. 2 that annual reviews take place in December each year.
“However, performance raises are not guaranteed every year,” she said. “They depend on budget, funding and board approval.”
Sikes told the board that funding for the performance raises was included in the budget approved in November.
Zwiener said the latest raises went into effect on Jan. 1 for 61 full-time and four part-time staff. The agency has 70-75 employees.
Sikes said the new raises were based on the agency’s new pay grade scale that was approved following the compensation study. The new pay grade scale outlines the minimum and maximum salary compensation for each position.
He said supervisors and managers, as well as Sikes and deputy director Jennifer Pinkley look at the yearly evaluations and discuss what the raise should be for each employee.
On Nov. 16, the Health Department approved the compensation study that raised the pay for 59 percent of its staff. Those raises cost the department a total of $283,026, including wages and fringe benefits.
In December 2023, the board approved up to $154,702 in performance pay raises effective Jan. 1, 2024. With the 2024 raises and some additional market-adjusted raises that took place in 2023, all Health Department positions have been adjusted to 95 percent of the market value, slightly below the market value to allow for long-term sustainability, Zwiener said.
She said 29 percent of staff were already at or above market value.
Zwiener said the extra cost for the compensation raises was funded through the Public Health Infrastructure Grant, a state funding source designated to establish, train and sustain public health workforce. The compensation study began in early 2024 and was funded through a state Workforce Development Contract.
To implement the study, the department opted against filling a deputy director position, as well as environmental public health specialist and environmental lab technician positions, officials said in October.