BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials will take up a pair of issues that relate to employee pay at tonight's Personnel Committee meeting.
The justices of the peace will resume work on personnel issues in advance of the formal budget process. The committee heard requests for about $1.2 million in new personnel and wage adjustments last week. The panel will rank those requests and take up pay issues when it meets at 6 p.m. in the Quorum Courtroom at the County Administration Building.
County pay
Benton County employees have received pay increases the last four years. In its budget for 2010, the county made no provision for raises. In the 2011 budget year, the county approved bonuses for employees, but no changes in pay. In the 2012 budget, the county approved money for 3 percent cost-of-living raises and another 2 percent for possible merit raises. In the 2013 budget, the county approved 2 percent cost-of-living raises and approved bonuses for employees later the the year. In the 2014 budget, the county approved 2 percent cost-of-living raises. In the 2015 budget, the county approved 1 percent cost-of-living increases and another 2 percent in possible merit raises.
Source: Benton County
Barb Ludwig, county human resources administrator, said one proposal is for a longevity pay plan that would provide employees with increases in salary after they have served a set number of years with the county. The plan would cost the county $183,750 the first year, if adopted as proposed, and about $65,000 a year annually after the first year.
The committee also is set to consider raises for employees as part of the 2016 budget. Ludwig said Monday she had no specific proposal for raises.
"I'm still working with the elected officials and department heads to see what their thinking is about possible raises," she said.
County Clerk Tena O'Brien said she supports the longevity pay proposal and raises as part of the budget.
"I'm for both," she said. "The longevity pay, I believe, rewards the people who work hard and come to work every day for a period of years. The current pay system we have in place doesn't always accommodate our employees in terms of their years of service. It is possible for someone to be hired in and be paid the same or more than someone who's been here for years. If we can get this longevity in place and if the Quorum Court will commit to doing merit raises each year I think it will allow us to stay within the market salary ranges."
County Judge Bob Clinard agreed that longevity pay, in conjunction with merit pay, gives the county the ability to reward deserving employees.
"I prefer merit raises over cost of living because that allows us to choose to reward those who have done the very best," Clinard said. "I'm OK with the longevity pay. It's not a lot of money, but it is an incentive for people to stay with the county. It's important that we retain qualified employees so we aren't having to train and re-train people all of the time. I don't buy into the notion that this rewards people just for staying. If an employee isn't performing they ought to go. If they are performing they ought to be rewarded."
Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and chairman of the Budget Committee, thinks county employees deserve raises, but he's not convinced the longevity pay plan should be part of the package. The Budget Committee will have to weigh all requests for raises, new personnel and capital expenditures, Allen said.
"The good news is revenue to the county is up," he said. "So it'll be a healthy year from that perspective. The bad news is we've got quite a lot of requests for personnel and capital. It's my opinion we can't satisfy all of those requests."
Allen wants elected officials and department heads to submit flat budgets for operating and maintenance costs and keep raises and capital requests separate as the county did in preparing the 2015 budget. Allen will need to see what the marketplace is doing before deciding on raises, but the longevity pay doesn't satisfy him.
"I"m not even close to being convinced on the longevity plan," he said. "If you're working anywhere other than government are you getting additional pay just because you've been there a certain number of years? I don't think so."
Barry Moehring, justice of the peace for District 15, also said he's not certain longevity pay helps the county. He favors merit raises with possible a smaller cost-0f-living adjustment.
"I think some type of raise is really important," he said. "I still want to hear the discussion on the breakdown between cost of living and merit. I think what we did last year, with money for 2 percent merit raises and 1 percent COLA, was reasonable."
NW News on 10/06/2015