Sheriff Bob Rost said one of his deputies made the decision to become a corporal three years ago, but because of the way the Grand Forks County pay scale is structured, he would make more money now if he had stayed in the lower-ranking position.
Grand Forks County Correctional Center Administrator Bret Burkholder said within the last 30 days he has interviewed and promoted two employees, only to find out he'll have to tell them their pay will decrease if they take the better titles.
These were just some of the cases brought before the Grand Forks County Commission at a well-attended meeting Tuesday.
"We've got department heads arguing different points, and that creates a problem," commissioner John Schmisek said.
The commission has been working with Fox Lawson and Associates, St. Paul, a division of Gallagher Benefit Services Inc., to figure out the best way to address less experienced employees getting paid as much as those in the same position with more experience.
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Commissioners said this predicament, called compression, was created when they implemented a new pay scale two years ago after working with consulting firm Springsted Inc. of St. Paul.
As part of the solution, the commission created a Human Resources Department in January.
In a May 15 letter, the Grand Forks County Employee Association requested the commission wait to take action on the payscale issue until a director had been hired for that department, but commissioners declined, saying it would be a couple months before someone was hired and even longer before they could address the issue.
Fair pay?
Commissioners Schmisek and Gary Malm talked about their experience working with other entities and pay scales, saying it would be impossible to make everybody happy.
"Quite frankly, in my term over at the city, we went through five of them and two out of five I didn't like, but when you have a pay system and a pay structure, not everybody is going to benefit under every proposal or plan," Schmisek said.
County employees at the meeting agreed, but said they wanted to see the majority of employees benefit from a change, which was something they weren't seeing in several plans presented by Fox Lawson.
The plans detail 13 pay "steps" and some employees voiced concern it would take too long to reach the top. The plans vary based on how much weight is put on years of experience within the county or within a current position.
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Of about 300 employees on the county's payroll, Finance and Tax Auditor Debbie Nelson said the highest number of employees that would benefit from any one plan suggested by the consultant would be 125. On the other end of the spectrum, one plan only sees 85 employees benefitting.
County Highways Department Engineer Nick West said it doesn't take 18 to 24 years for a person to be proficient at their job, as the plans suggest.
"They don't measure performance, it's based on time, which has no direct outside measurement," he said. "We must then assume proficiency increases with time."
But consultant Jim Fox said via conference call most companies awarded pay increases to the sixth or seventh step based on experience, and anything above that would be above and beyond for exceptional work.
Malm said if that were the case, he didn't think the dollar figures at that level were high enough.
West spoke passionately to the commission, saying there was a morale problem and the pay issue needed to be fixed.
"I think we're on the verge of losing mid- and entry-level people because they don't know where they're going or how to get to the top," he said.
The commission is asking county employees to submit detailed questions and concerns with appropriate supporting documentation to Finance and Tax Auditor Debbie Nelson by 3 p.m. Friday so she can get them to Fox for answers.
