The FY23 Union County Budget has a new pay scale for county employees. The pay scale was developed by looking at all current salaries for county employees. Any employee who currently made less than $15 per hour was raised to at least that amount and placed on the schedule without regard to the number of years worked.
So, if employee A makes $8 per hour as a new hire and employee B makes $10 per hour with five years experience, both employees will now make the same $15 per hour.
In general, the current salary was increased by the 5.9 percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) and then the employee was placed one step up from that amount.
If the current salary is $32,000, the amount of 5.9 percent of $32,000 or $1,888 is added. The result is $33,888 and the employee would be placed on the next step above the $33,888. A 2 percent annual step increase would replace the annual COLA.
Everyone will start at the 2023 placement on the scale and move forward one step per year until they reach the highest pay on the scale or are no longer employed. In most cases employees with more experience begin at a higher step if they are being paid a higher salary currently.
In November the Union County Commission adjusted the pay for police officers based on a recommendation by Sheriff Billy Breeding. This adjustment moved deputies to steps that better reflected the experience step they currently have.
So who benefits and who is penalized?
Obviously employees who make less than the $15 per hour will gain. Likewise the entire scale is a significant increase for all employees the first year. But what happens in subsequent years? If the cost of living remains high due to inflation or other economic factors, employees will lose buying power with only a 2 percent annual raise. Over time, wages will stagnate even though the salary is increasing. This situation benefits the county because expenditure expectations tend to grow by a relatively constant rate. The way to overcome this flattening of the pay scale is to increase the beginning salary and likewise increase each step proportionately through adding a flat amount or using some percent of COLA.
However, past Union County practice with salary schedules in the school system showed that as much as 10 years transpired without an overhaul of the entire schedule even when insurance increases reached 14 percent and the cost of living expanded by 7 percent.
Then there is the issue of the top of the scale. The school system is currently wrestling with this issue. Without a complete revision of the scale on a regular basis, the employees who serve longest tend to get the least per year increases or no increase at all due to reaching the top of the pay scale. Sometimes the county will provide a pay bonus equal to the step increase without changing the pay scale. But the bonus is a one time adjustment and not a permanent change in the scale. Union County Board of Education pays a bonus in the form of longevity pay which is an amount times the years experience for those employees who have reached the top step on the pay scale.
But bonuses are not guaranteed pay. Bonuses tend to favor employers, not employees over time because the salary schedule does not change with bonuses. But bonuses can fill the gap when the salary scale does not cover the COLA.
In contrast, if the economy nosedives and a recession occurs, a salary schedule benefits the employee if the step increase percent is greater than or equal to the cost of living increase. A 2.0 percent automatic step increase would increase the employee buying power if consumer prices only rose 1.5 percent.
Pay scales can benefit employees and employers alike if the scale is flexible enough to ensure the employee will receive a wage that does not reduce buying power and allows the employer to accurately and responsibly figure expenditures. Obviously, planning and collaboration are a must.