The Hays County Commissioners Court, county department heads and staff are closer to finalizing the way the county will hire and pay its staff in the coming year and beyond.
On Tuesday, during the regularly scheduled meeting of the Hays County Commissioners Court, Dr. Russell Campbell, senior vice president for the Management Advisory Group, Inc., headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, provided key details of a substantial data-driven Classification and Compensation Study report, contracted for by the county. The study’s purpose is to bring salaries and employment classifications into a more succinct alignment that takes into account such issues as merit, seniority, fairness and provides the foundation for implementing salaries increases more routinely that account for inflation and cost of living requirements.
Campbell told the court that having a “fresh set of eyes” to look at employee job descriptions and pay structures was advantageous in the long term.
“I’m looking at it from 10,000 feet down,” he said, noting that his company was bring a globally centered approach to the problem, as opposed to how the county may have looked at salaries in the past.
“This process is not designed to make everybody happy,” Campbell said, but with a system in place, it will have more opportunity to mitigate biases in hiring and help the county to transition to a new set of standards.
“It will give employees some clarity,” he said.
For much of the morning part of the meeting Tuesday, the commissioners and County Judge Ruben Becerra offered their comments on the study and its recommendations, and then heard from many of the department heads. These staff members confirmed, one by one, how they must deal with hiring and salary decisions based on what many in attendance agreed was an antiquated set of policies that do not reflect that this county is considered to be the fastest growing in the nation.
The court will take up this agenda item with a more precise set of steps based on the meeting Tuesday during its next regularly scheduled meeting set for March 28.
Becerra said it was time for the county to move away from protecting an old, “obsolete process.” Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell said, “This county has changed dramatically,” and a different response is required to keep the county actively able to get the best candidates needed.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Michelle Cohen said, “I am the newest elected official,” and in the last two months, she has listened to comments from various department heads, hearing three conditions most often mentioned: underpaid, overworked and understaffed.” She added that she also learned that each of the individuals she talked to “genuinely care” and that the effort to make working for the county a better experience is paramount to continued growth.
She cited that the county in some areas is paying salaries that were 11 percent below the minimum which she called unacceptable.
There are now 30 elected officials in the county who do not fall into this hiring discussion in the same way that staff and other employees would be affected.
Percent 4 Commissioner Walt Smith said he had wanted to have this work completed by March 1 and now the county was well beyond that date, but that he could support with some changes what was before them.
He did say that he felt it was important to preserve the concept of merit pay for many jobs in the county, in addition to the creation of a step process that would implement percentage salary increases annually.
“I agree with 90 percent of the recommendations and findings,” Smith said, adding that all that had been accomplished so far represented “yeoman’s work.”
Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe discussed with Budget Office Director Vickie Dorsett what would be the financial ramifications associated with a series of choices for implementation of across the board raises for certain classifications of employees, and reflecting for example, new hires who may have come in at a higher salary to attract better candidates. Dorsett said the county would incur a different cost based on whether it implemented a plan retroactive to March 1 or chose a June or October date. Several dollar figures were offered during the meeting, but the court determined that it was premature without adding some of the changes proposed by commissioners to take action Tuesday.
The court is moving ahead with its FY 2024 Budget calendar and notifications are set to be sent to departments, the review of all department requests to be May 15 through June 20. The salary decision will be a large portion of the budget discussion in the weeks ahead.
