Finance committee gets update on city worker pay, classification review

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Consultant Paul Combs, left, listens to a question from Bardstown Mayor John Royalty. Click to enlarge.

Thursday, April 16, 2015, 10 p.m. — The city council’s Finance Committee received a progress report Thursday of the revisions to the city’s classification and compensation plan — the document that defines pay scales and job descriptions for City of Bardstown employees.

Human resources consultant Paul Combs told the committee his firm was hired to insure the City of Bardstown’s compensation was competitive and would allow the city to recruit and retain quality workers. Combs’ firm is also examining the internal equity of jobs and pay within city government.

In order to evaluate the pay scales, Combs said he used raw data from surveys conducted by the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) in order to compare salaries with cities similar in size to Bardstown. The published KLC data lacks the details to make informed comparisons, he said. However, the KLC provided Combs with the raw data he need for more accurate comparisons.

“The goal was be sure we compared apples to apples,” he said

Combs presented the committee with his proposal, which reduces the number of pay grades from 50 to 30 and narrows the range of compensation in each pay grade. The proposed pay grades are designed so the low end of each is five percent higher than the pay grade preceding it.

The proposed changes will be coupled with revised job descriptions that Combs’ firm is still working to complete. The new job descriptions will include several levels for certain jobs designed to provide incentive for employees to advance their skills and education.

No city employees will be required to take a lower salary, Combs said. A number of city workers are likely to have their pay increased to fit within the minimum of their pay ranges, he said. The new pay scales will mean an increase of $38,000 to the city’s annual budge for salaries.

Once the plan is in place, “this should allow the city to retain a quality workforce,” Mayor John Royalty told the committee.

Some existing employee’s job descriptions no longer accurate reflect the scope of the work they perform, Combs said. “We’re not re-creating, we’re revising.”

One departure from previous classification and compensation plans is that job descriptions will no longer be approved in ordinance form. Job descriptions will now be approved in the form of a municipal order, which allows for easier updates of the descriptions.

Councilman Fred Hagan asked Combs for a date when he would have the rest of the work completed. Combs couldn’t give an exact date, but promised it would be done prior to the council completes its review of the city’s 2015-16 budget.

NEXT UP. The Bardstown City Council’s next scheduled meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 28.

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