MACON, Ga. — Just a few weeks ago, consultants presented recommendations for adjusting pay for county employees to the Macon-Bibb County commission.
Now, the county has published a draft of what these adjustments could look like for dozens of jobs-- from deputies and firefighters to office jobs.
This week, the county is moving forward in the process, trying to adjust county employee's pay. It's listed under new business on the commission's agenda, meaning it will be assigned to a committee and commissioners will discuss the changes further over the next couple weeks.
County Manager Keith Moffett says the county is recommending around 75 percent of county jobs to receive some type of adjustment. Some of those jobs include first responders like certified deputies. According to the draft, the minimum suggested for their starting salary is nearly $41,000 compared to the roughly $34,000 they receive now.
"We're just trying to make sure we properly compensate every employee and we are competitive in the general market place," Moffett said.
He says the other 25 percent of jobs are receiving above the minimum suggested by the study for their job position.
"For those, we're recommending a 1.5 percent adjustment because again, everyone will be compensated," Moffett said.
Moffett says if implemented in January, it will cost the county $4 million plus the cost of benefits for the second half of the fiscal year.
Overall, Moffett says the county is estimating it will cost $7 to $8 million with all benefits included per fiscal year.
Some commissioners say it's worth it.
"We as a commission committed to it. Even though I'm short on time, I'm going to vote for it," said Commissioner Larry Schlesinger.
"This is a study that tells us what we should be paying and I think we should go forward with this. We can afford it right now," said Commissioner Valerie Wynn.
"I'm 85 percent in approval of it, but that other 15 percent, I got to ask some questions," said Commissioner Elaine Lucas.
Lucas says some of those questions include if this is the highest pay raise the county can give to its lowest paying employee and if there's a plan for paying employees based on longevity.
Moffett says longevity will be discussed in phase two, but this phase focuses on the county paying its employees for how much their position is worth. Moffett says the second will look at paying employees for merit and/or the time they've been in their job.
"I've put options on the table that we have some type of merit or evaluation process. We are looking at an outright longevity formula," Moffett said.
Moffett has pushed commissioners to vote on this by the end of November so the county can implement it by January 2021. He says its crucial that the pay is adjusted for these employees.
"If we don't do this, and then don't create a plan on moving forward on how we compensate yearly whether its a cost of living adjustment or some merit based adjustment, we will buy ourselves out of market very quickly, probably within two or three years. And then we'll be starting this process all over again," Moffett said.
The earliest the full commission will vote on this will be two weeks from now, November 17, but it has to make it through committee first.
Here is the full agenda item which lists all Bibb County job positions along with recommendations on the pay range from the study.