Nov. 29—In quick order Monday night, the Sampson County Board of Commissioners approved the implementation of a roughly $3.2 million plan that will boost county employee salaries across the board. The unanimous approval followed the release last week of a much-awaited market study evaluating employee compensation that was a year in the making.
In the moments leading up to the passing of the plan, which came during a special-called meeting on the second consecutive Monday night, commissioners offered a few comments in which they once again reflected on the hard budgetary work ahead. The $3.2 million is borrowed from the county's rainy day fund and that recurring expense will now have to be found in subsequent budgets.
The now-approved proposal will see some employees receive salary bumps upwards of 20% or more, with the current pay scale proposed to be realigned with established market mid-points, providing a capped increase for years worked and a cost of living adjustment on top of that.
Human Resources Director Nancy Dillman said she had discussions with some department heads since the presentation of the market study on Nov. 20 and they have been thankful, but said there were also a few pieces of the proposal — notably some positions in Emergency Services — that needed to be delved into further regarding what were deemed "discrepancies."
"I have talked with several department heads and they have some concerns — and we know there are errors because we were working with some moving targets," said Dillman. "Several department heads have very professionally shared specific concerns that we are looking at, and we are researching those. There will probably be some adjustments, but are proposal as we submitted it allowed for the county manager to make those adjustments as needed and keep the board apprised."
The adjustments were expected to be effective retroactive to Nov. 1, reflected in December paychecks. Dillman said "it would take some time" to get the other concerns sorted out, so those might be reflected in January paychecks, again retroactive to Nov. 1.
"First and foremost, I think the idea was to get a non-biased opinion, and that's basically what we've done," said Board Chairman Jerol Kivett. "It has taken longer than we anticipated, however it's really to our advantage because if we would have done this before July, we would have been off today. Today, I think we're current because of some of the adjustments we've made."
Specifically, the move will provide a 1% increase for each year in the position (capped at 9 years), aligning position titles and classifications with job descriptions, addressing pay compression issues and ensuring no employee will receive a decrease in pay. Additionally, it would provide an additional 4% COLA to the salary study recommendation for all employees to maintain market competitiveness. No COLA was included in the county's current budget while surrounding counties implemented them.
Under the approved scenario, the newly-proposed minimum for each employee will be used and an additional 1% for each year an employee has been in their position as of Jan. 1, 2024, limited to nine years. The years-in-position increase is limited to nine because the last pay study included a years-in-position increase and it has been nine years since that study was completed.
This employee receives the greater of the newly calculated salary or their current salary. All employees then receive a 4% COLA in addition to their new or current salary. In this scenario, 203 employees would not receive any increase other than the recommended COLA.
The cost, including fringes, to move employees to their calculated salary would cost approximately $1,843,875. The additional cost of providing a 4% COLA to all employees would cost approximately $1,418,322 bringing the total cost to $3,262,197 including fringes.
The adjustments will eliminate all previously approved, temporary compensation agreements — hiring bonuses, temporary raises, incentive payments, paying above assigned pay grades — currently in place for identified competitive positions with DSS, Health, EMS, the Detention Center and the Sheriff's Office.
Lexi Scholten, senior consultant for Baker Tilly, walked county commissioners through the market study during last week's meeting.
Of the county's 178 positions, 124 were included in the survey as benchmark positions. Baker Tilly requested pay ranges (minimum to maximum) and calculated for the midpoint of each collected range. Of the 124 benchmark positions, seven positions received insufficient data and a market value was not calculated. Overall, market values were established for 117 of the benchmark positions. On average, benchmarks had about six matches each. The position was evaluated, not the person in it, Scholten stressed.
A comparison of current midpoints against market average midpoints were prepared for the county, showing the county's minimums are 0.2% ahead of market minimums on average; midpoints are 0.1% ahead of market midpoints on average; and county's maximums are 2% behind market maximums on average, according to Baker Tilly.
Some would be heavily affected, while others would not be at all and would receive just the 4% COLA.
According to county officials, some of the biggest pieces of the pie would go to the Sheriff's Office (makes up 34.3% of the proposed funds with an average salary boost of 17.6%); Social Services (makes up 23.5% of the proposed funds with an average salary boost of 8.2%); and Detention (makes up 10.8% of the proposed funds with an average salary boost of 15%).
Sampson will continue to compete with other counties over employees with specialized skills, Dillman noted.
"It's going to continue to be a moving target, we know that," she remarked, "but we feel like the pay plan did adjust that for the most part."
As he did in last week's meeting, Kivett on Monday again offered some perspective, noting the it was not as if the county had money in the bank and simply did not address wage disparities.
"We borrowed money to make up the difference," said Kivett. "This $3 million that we're putting toward this is not liquid money that we've got — we had to borrow that from our rainy day fund. That will have to be replaced. We've got to find that money, and that's a concern that we as commissioners have. That's our job, and that's of course what we're going to be doing. We're going to have to look at this in our budget sessions coming up; there may be some areas that we have to cut. There is some serious discussion that is going to have to be made."
"That is the issue that we have," Commissioner Thaddeus Godwin echoed, "is finding the money and how do we do it —and how do we do it in the appropriate way that it doesn't hurt our county. That is going to be one of the jobs we have to do."
"We all want to make the county stronger and better in every area," Kivett added.
Kivett moved to adopt the proposal, seconded by Godwin and ultimately unanimously approved.
Commissioner Lethia Lee touted the plan along with others in helping to look after the employees.
"There's no doubt in anybody's mind that the money's not deserved," she said prior to casting her affirmative vote. "We know that our employees deserve this. I know how diligently they work and they deserve it. At the same time, it's about the 'where' and the 'how' (to fund the plan going forward). But that's our task. You don't have to worry about that. We will find a way. We always do. We don't want you to feel guilty or feel no way that it's your fault, because it's not. I used to work, and I know. We just want you to enjoy and be thankful."
Commissioner Sue Lee reiterated her thanks for the hard work of employees, and noted the timing of the plan, even delayed, actually worked out for the better because it allowed the county to get the most up-to-date numbers from other counties for 2023-24.
"I'm really pleased we're able to do this for our employees," said Sue Lee. "We appreciate them, and they deserve it."
Editor Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137 ext. 2587.
