ARLINGTON — The Arlington City Council is considering whether to award a contract for a comprehensive salary survey.
City Administrator Paul Ellis noted that the last full comprehensive compensation plan was completed in the early 2000s.
City staff has requested $36,000 from the general fund, and have recommended contracting with the McGrath Human Resources Group to complete the compensation study.
Ellis explained that the study would determine the values of salary and benefits for city staff positions, and compare them to cities with similar populations and property values within the same labor market.
“This would look at our whole pay structure,” Ellis said. “We went with an outside agency on this because they have a greater capacity to conduct it, with less interference.”
Although the study would be conducted by a third party, the contract would be managed by the city’s human resources and finance departments, as well as Ellis himself.
The study would apply to all of the city’s non-uniform employees, except for Ellis, to avoid conflict of interest. This would include administrative positions in the police and fire departments, but not the officers or firefighters.
While the city had previously awarded compensation based on job titles, city staff are now aiming to award it based on job descriptions, although they’ve already revised and standardized certain job titles between departments for greater clarity.
“We wanted to be consistent,” Ellis said. “We found that similar positions across departments weren’t receiving equivalent compensation. So rather than having a planner, an associate planner and a senior planner, we have planners at levels 1, 2 and 3, so that you know what to expect across the board. Compensation would be based on your performance, rather than your time in the position.”
Ellis acknowledged that the city has not necessarily kept up with the market values of many positions, and has implemented limited fixes rather than reevaluating its whole scale.
“Unfortunately, this has left some ranks too close together, so there’s not as much financial incentive to advance, when you’ll only be making a little bit more,” Ellis said.
When Ellis was asked by council members what system would be implemented to replace the current structure, Mayor Barbara Tolbert pointed out that this recommendation would be part of the completed study.
“Policy decisions are a part of this,” Ellis said. “We’re going to find out that some positions are either over-or-under-compensated. How do we address that, and bring those positions into line? That’s what the recommendations will include.”
