Warner Robins study finds issues with city employee salaries

A new pay study concluded that the city of Warner Robins’ employees are paid competitively with other cities, but that something needs to be done about the pay scale.

Sherman Yehl, an associate professor of Valdosta State University’s Center for Applied Social Science, presented the results of the study to City Council members on Monday. He said the study found “salary compression” to be a serious impact on employee morale and turnover.

He explained that under the current system, city employees with years of seniority could be making the same thing as a new employee in the same position. About 20 firefighters were at the meeting because of the issue, and Fire Chief Ross Moulton said afterward that he fully agreed with the study’s conclusions.

“It would be the best thing ever,” he said, if the council approves the recommendations.

He said the department has lost many firefighters because of the pay issue.

Yehl recommended at the city adopt an annual step system in which employees would get a 2.25 percent increase each year. That would replace the city’s annual cost-of-living increase, which is usually 2 percent.

The reason the change would represent a significant pay increase for many city employees over the cost-of-living increase is that the step increase would apply to each year an employee has worked already. The study estimated that implementation would represent an initial cost of $1.1 million to $1.5 million.

The council members had not seen the study until it was presented at the meeting. Council members said they wanted to look at it more closely before voting on it, so no vote was taken during the regular meeting.

Yehl also noted that the city has a better benefits plan than other similar cities when looking at the contributions that employees make. He said the city should give an annual assessment of its total compensation package to each employee so that they fully understand what they are getting besides their salary for their work.

This story was originally published June 5, 2017 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Warner Robins study finds issues with city employee salaries."