City Management Pay Reclassification Once Called "Gobbledegook" Deferred To 2022
For members of Administration hoping for pay increases in commensurate with their duties it is going to be at least another year of waiting to see if the cheque is in the mail.
At the December 9th special meeting of Council to deliberate the 2021 Operating Budget Council voted 5 - 2 to defer funding the proposed salary increases of Administration members whose job were re-classified.
Under the proposal 11 members of Administration would be splitting $90,000 in salary increases that Human Resources director Al Bromley said were because of a job evaluation that was gender neutral and based upon fairness and equity in commensurate with what the out of scope employee’s duties were for the City.
“A job evaluation plan ensures the organization has a sound and fair basis for its pay levels and job hierarchy. One that is gender neutral based upon the principles of equal pay for work of equal value,” Bromley told Council.
The job re-evaluation review started in 2018 with $50,000 to review both the out of scope (management) and in-scope (union) employees. Commencing in January a similar joint evaluation review will commence with CUPE for union positions.
In total 46 management positions were reviewed with 13 positions going up one level, one position going up two levels and one position went down a level. The re-evaluation would also eliminate the position of Transportation Manager and replace it with the lower paying Transit Supervisor.
Bromley was quick to state that the requested $90,000 annually to fund the increased salaries was not about evening out wages between what the private and public sectors pay.
“The funding we requested is not a market adjustment for current positions. It is an internal adjustment to the job positions based on weighted job factors specific and unique to the City of Moose Jaw environment,” Bromley said.
The proposed increases in salaries is not an across the board raise, which all members of Administration received in January 2020, but rather an adjustment based upon their duties and the value of the work to the City.
When the minutes of the in-camera Personnel Committee meeting were brought forward to Council in September of this year former Councillor Brian Swanson called them “Gobbledegook” and something that should not have even be considered in the first place.
Funding for the proposed initiative would come from an excess salary reserve and the Operating Budget and would be fully funded from Operating funds in the third year or 2023. In 2021 it was proposed $60,000 would come from the reserve and $30,000 from the Operating Budget. In 2022 the Operating Budget would fund $60,000 of the salary adjustments with the Operating Budget picking up $30,000. In year three, or 2023, the Operating Budget would fund the entire $90,000.
The Excess Salary Reserve is accumulated from leftover salary monies requested in the budget. Salary monies are budgeted higher than anticipated to ensure there are sufficient funds available. Each year the excess is deposited into the reserve. The reserve is not capped - excess funds do not flow to the Accumulated Surplus Reserve.
Presently there is $173,000 in the Excess Salary Reserve since 2017. The initiative to review the job framework for both management and union positions received its first funding in the 2018 Budget discussions.
“When it came to funding this program we tried to look at a way we could bring the program forward and sort of have a phased approach to the Operating Budget. We didn’t want to see the full cost all impact the Operating Budget at one time given the difficult circumstances we are still in. We are still in a pandemic,” finance director Brian Acker said.
Councillor Heather Eby asked if there was any way the salary increases could be phased in, Bromley replied the re-evaluation framework was not set up for that.
“With the job evaluation framework everybody is assessed on the job factors…and they are determined what the level (of pay) should be,” he said. “Once we did the evaluation we have some people not properly placed in the framework…from an HR perspective its about fairness and equity this places some of our folks.”
Council then moved the impact of deferring the proposal until 2022 after a motion by Councillor Dawn Luhning.
In response to a question by Couhcillor Eby if deferring the issue until next year’s budget would mean that it would have to be re-discussed by Council the city manager said it would.
“I believe it has to come back to Council with a funding option again. Certainly moving it to 2022 considering the year we are in is a good step forward. Incremental progress is better than no progress,” Puffalt said.
Bromley stated that he had concerns some management employees might cry foul if the City hired new employees who would automatically end up in a higher pay classification than an employee already here doing a similar job and that employee had to wait until 2022 to receive the same pay classification.
Regarding the potential of the pay being retroactive for 2021 if the measure was approved in 2022 Bromley said it would not because the funding part of the reclassification had been deferred for future consideration by Council.
In a 5 - 2 vote with Councllors Kim Robinson and Froese opposed Council voted to defer the discussion on whether to approve the reclassification to the 2022 Budget deliberations.