Company to study county government job pay

<p>One by one during the county budget hearings this summer, county department leaders asked for raises for employees.</p>
<p>Some were a few percent. Others were for 5 percent or 9 percent. A few of the requests were for 15 percent or more.</p>
<p>Department leaders and elected officials said some of their employees were underpaid and that the wages made it difficult to retain quality employees.</p>
<p>Across the county, and in comparison to other counties, employees doing similar work with a similar title earn a wide range of pay. </p>
<p>A consultant is going to study the wages paid to Johnson County employees and county government workers in similar counties to gather the data. </p>
<p>The company will look at job classifications and compensation in county departments for 279 job titles that cover the nearly 500 employees.</p>
<p>The commissioners have hired Muncie-based Waggoner Irwin Scheele and Associates at $39,960 to conduct the study. Kevin Walls and Brian Baird voted to hire the consultants. Ron West voted against the study.</p>
<p>The system used to calculate what an employee should be paid or how they should be classified has too many variables, such as longevity, performance and qualifications to be able to fairly assign wages and job classifications with a study, West said.</p>
<p>&quot;I don’t think it is applicable to our needs, quite honestly,&quot; he said. “I just didn’t think we should spend $39,000 plus dollars to do something I do not think is a benefit,&quot; he said.</p>
<p>For years, county employee wages have gotten off balance, county council member Josh McCarty said. </p>
<p>“That is why we thought would be best to consult the outside vendor to do a compensation review,&quot; McCarty said.</p>
<p>When a department head would argue during budget hearings that an employee was underpaid, council members did not know if that was true, he said.</p>
<p>&quot;Quite frankly, we didn’t know,&quot; McCarty said. &quot;Until we do it methodically and study the issue, we don’t really know.&quot;</p>
<p>Waggoner Irwin Scheele will use a factor evaluation system, which assigns points to major tasks of each job and uses the points to compare them to each other and the private sector, according to the county contract with the company.</p>
<p>The work is expected to begin this month and finish in May.</p>