Some York County Staff Saw Bump in Pay

By Desiree Parker Thursday, August 11, 2011

York County employees haven’t gotten raises since fiscal year 2009, but some have gotten pay increases by other means through fiscal year 2011.

Salaries increased by approximately $187,800 in the budget for staff between fiscal year 2010 and 2011, and roughly another $14,300 between 2011 and current fiscal year 2012. Though salaries increased in some departments in 2012, there was also a decrease in other salaries totaling about $213,400 in 2012.

County Administrator James McReynolds offered four possible reasons why salaries went up over these years: vacancies that occurred in one year and were filled the next; fire and life safety staff moving to more senior positions after fulfilling training or certification requirements; vacancies filled with new employees who were hired with a raised salary due to current market conditions; and a four-year reclassification process.

Every year, the county reviews one-fourth of all staff positions to determine whether any need to be reclassified. When the raise freeze occurred, the county had reviewed just half of the staff positions under this process.

“We didn’t feel it was fair to review half of the employees and not the other half,” McReynolds said. Supervisors were aware of the reclassifications, he said.

The process includes determining if a staff member’s job description lines up with the person’s current responsibilities, and also comparing the salary with other comparable positions in nearby localities because “we want the sense that we are able to compete in the region,” according to McReynolds.

If responsibilities are increased or other comparable salaries in the area are higher, an employee could receive a pay increase through 2011. Now that the most recent cycle has ended, the county has frozen the reclassification review.

When asked how many employees in each department had reclassified positions during this four-year process, McReynolds said the information was difficult to compile as it would require going through all employee records. County spokeswoman Christie Phillips said it would cost a minimum of $870 for WYDaily to get the data.

In James City County, reclassifications are reserved only for staff members who have taken on more responsibility or have a different job description than when they were hired, according to James City County spokeswoman Jody Puckett. “Now and then” the county will compare positions to others in the region, she says, and if the salary “is out of whack compared to the market, then we will adjust the pay.”

To find this data, James City County would also have to sift through its employee records, for a total cost of $220.

York Supervisor Tom Shepperd said the reclassification review process “is not a pay raise, per se – it is a job change.” He pointed out that the county “can end up with a person who does not only his job, but ends up doing much more, with greater responsibility.”

Shepperd also said that, considering the county’s $123 million budget, “a $180,000 change is not that significant, [if you] think about the percentage.”

Zaremba said the board was “aware of the [reclassification] cycle… that’s not a pay raise in my mind, if [someone] is taking on additional responsibilities, or if a job in James City County pays at a different rate and the job is reclassified. It’s fairness to employees.”

The York County School Board requested level funding for the new fiscal year and they planned on a $1.2 million step pay increase for employees. The Board of Supervisors decided to stick to their original plan to trim the school budget by roughly $328,000.

At a March 29 work session, Zaremba objected not only to the request for level funding, but to the idea of giving raises when no county employees have seen raises in the past three years. “I suspect that our sheriff’s deputies would like pay raises. I suspect our fire and life safety people would like a pay raise. I suspect your county staff would like a pay raise,” he said, adding that he suspected residents would like to see pay raises in the form of lower taxes.

Zaremba went on to say, “…we may not only want to dock $337,000, but we’ll do whatever it takes to stop that pay raise.”

At the same meeting, Supervisor Sheila Noll agreed with some of his points, saying, “It is sort of a stick it in your eye that the school board is not willing to go along with some of the pain also.”

The school board decided to use some extra state funds and other savings to give one-time bonuses to employees.