Grand Forks City Council members are starting the discussion on whether the city needs to change employee benefits to match those commonly offered in the market.
This could lead to the elimination of some benefits or it could lead to improvements to existing benefits.
Members of the council's Finance Committee asked the Human Resources Department on Monday night to put together a list of benefits and report back in October.
Council member Terry Bjerke, who asked the council to begin the discussion, said he doesn't see why the city buys back unused sick days from employees, having pushed to eliminate that practice a few weeks ago.
But he also noted that his life insurance plan is better than what city employees get and costs less. They might well be better off with a similar plan, he said.
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Ultimately, Human Resources staff is expected to conduct a survey of benefits offered by other employers, particularly local governments, similar to a survey of wages that it does now. The wage survey, along with the rate of inflation, is used by the city as a guideline for giving employee wage increases.
Finance Committee Chairman Doug Christensen said he'd expect survey results in January.
Bjerke sought changes to benefits during the 2012 budget discussion, but other council members said they'd like to have that sort of issues go through committee first.
He said Monday he thinks the system of benefits probably preceded the wage surveys and have not been rationalized in the same way that wages have been.
Council Vice President Eliot Glassheim cautioned that when the city does do comparisons, it not focus only on making budget cuts, because it can do that now and get less qualified employees.
"I don't want to be top of the pack paying more, but I don't want to be at the bottom of the pack paying less than everybody."
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send email to ttran@gfherald.com .
