Mayor Nolan Crouse wants to open a review of staff salary and benefit practices after council approved $712,000 in raises Monday night for non-union staff.
An in camera discussion led to the approval of a salary increase for approximately 300 non-union city employees, including senior managers, which city manager Bill Holtby said was based on a report produced by administration.
In the report, the city's current pay scale was compared with salary levels of employees in nine different comparable cities, including Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie, as well as salaries in comparable positions with the provincial government and University of Alberta.
"Our compensation system for our staff is that we benchmark it to the 60th percentile of the comparators in Alberta," Holtby said in a later interview. "All of that money is scattered among the 12 [pay] levels."
Holtby said putting non-union staff wages at an above-average level is necessary to help recruit and retain quality staff for the city. The raises amount to an average of 3.9 per cent per staff member, but range from 2.2 to 6.9 per cent depending on level of experience, time with the city and the staff member's position. He added benefits packages were not part of the salary discussions.
The pay raise is a result of the city's policy to alter staff salaries every even year according to the comparison model used this year. In odd years, the city raises staff salaries according to cost of living increases. A similar study completed in 2008 resulted in an average increase of 4.5 per cent for non-union staff, while a 2009 cost of living increase resulted in another 4.5 per cent rise.
"I think people forget what was happening at that time, when the economy was hot," said Holtby. "There were organizations doing six per cent increases at the time."
The money for the raises comes from the city's 2010 budget, where three per cent of the total of staff salaries was set aside to cover the cost of the increases. However, Holtby said the raises, which are typically backdated to Jan. 1, were retroactive to April 1 this year because of a lack of funds.
"We would have needed $950,000 [go to Jan. 1]," said Holtby. "What council decided instead was, instead of going back to Jan. 1, go to April 1 and staff would forgive the retroactive pay."
Third-party review
After council approved the motion publicly, Crouse asked administration to create terms of reference for a third-party salary and benefits review by July 1. Crouse later said he felt it was important to ensure the policies and procedures were up to date and the city was operating at the best value.
"It's not that we don't trust our staff, but 45 per cent of our costs are to staff," he said. "I'm not convinced that this salary increase is appropriate at this time."
Crouse said he hoped to get the third-party review panel running shortly after the terms of reference are approved by council and have their report in time for fall budget discussions. From there, Crouse said it would be easy for council to make any changes in time for the 2011 budget.
Coun. Gareth Jones said council's approval of the salary increase was a result of the information presented to them by administration, showing that the city needed to make the increase. However, he agreed with the mayor's idea of holding a third-party review to check where the city stands compared to other municipalities.
"Every now and again, I think that everyone needs a third-party assessment … just to see if we are on the right track."
