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McCook Gazette

Wage comparability study delayed

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

A study to compare salaries of city employees to those in other cities has been postponed, until the McCook City Council can find out how much extra it will cost to include a job description in the study.

The council was asked at a regular meeting Monday night to approve a contract with Capital City Concepts LLC of Lincoln for the wage comparability study.

Options in the contract include a cost of $13,000, that could be lowered to $11,000 if the study was scheduled next year as an on-site, detailed comparison of benefit packages and wage data.

This kind of in-depth study also would be able to withstand Commission of Industrial Relations review scrutiny, according to city officials.

Another option, for $8,500, would be a mail-out study that might be unable to withstand legal tests if challenged.

The council approved $10,000 during this year's budget process for the wage study, in response to Councilman Lonnie Anderson's request for additional compensation for police officers who are at the top of their pay scale.

Anderson, a former McCook City police officer, agreed to the study at budget talks.

A job description was not part of the options the council looked at Monday night, said City Manager Kurt Fritsch. A comprehensive job definition would be beneficial, he added, as it would compare what McCook city employees do in their jobs compared to what is expected in other cities.

In response to a question by Councilman Jack Rogers, Fritsch said there are several city employees at the the top of the pay scale.

City Clerk Lea Ann Doak said today that there are fewer than 20 employees who have hit the top of the scale, spread across all departments.

If approved by the City Council, employees typically get a cost of living increase based on the Consumer Price Index. City employees also draw a longevity salary of one percent for every five years of employment.

The council deferred approving a contract until the next meeting June 2, when costs of a job definition could be included.

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  • I have to ask this: Does it really cost the taxpayers $12,000 to quallify the taxpayer to pay yet higher taxes? What I see here, probably in my fiscal ignorance, is that to be penny wise, we should be dollar dumb. Has logic and reason completely escaped from our way of life?

    Think about it folks. The Federal Government already spends mega-bucks, tracking inflation, costs, expenses, and so on, why can't anyone serving this community, with the concept of fairness to both employee and employer (taxpayer)access this information, and offer adjustments everyone can live with.

    Okay, track, to some extent, the competition, who might hire our servents away from us, but if we are fair to start with, we shouldn't have to worry, nor hire someone to tell us to give our people a reasonable increase in ability to live, and enjoy being a part of this community.

    I pray I am wrong, but I see a whole bunch of payed people saying that logical thinking is not their forte. Perhaps, if someone else is hired to come up with an answer, no one will have to take responsibility, should the taxpayer rebel against the cost. Hmmmmm!

    There, I said it.

    Has anyone asked the city employees what they feel would be fair?

    I'm not very diplomatic, most of the time, but $12,000 is a lot of money to most families, in this part of the country.

    However, Shalom in Christ, Arley Steinhour

    -- Posted by Navyblue on Wed, May 21, 2008, at 10:10 AM

  • Maybe the survey will show that the city is over paying employees. Maybe it will show that to get and keep good employees the city needs to up the salary. Maybe it will show that one department is underpaid and another is overpaid. Maybe the survey is a good idea. And Arley-Navyblue, I have read several of your posts. You sign off with Shalom in Christ but your posts are most frequently not designed to cause peace but rather cause desent. They often attack others. Living the Gospel message is harder than living it.

    -- Posted by dennis on Thu, May 22, 2008, at 11:07 AM

  • To Dennis -- "To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker." Frederick Douglass

    I may not always agree with Navyblue, but I am open-minded enough to at least read what he/she has to say. I think one sign of a good politician is that he/she would be willing to hear differences of opinion. Thanks for posting.

    -- Posted by cowgurl1 on Fri, May 23, 2008, at 2:06 PM
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