By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
The Ellis County Commission recently approved a final round of updated job descriptions and the employee pay scale as part of a compensation study.
Ellis County Administrator Darin Myers said most of the job descriptions from the wage and benefit study by the Arnold Group from Wichita, which were approved by the commission last week, were either new descriptions or updates and corrections.
Completing the changes will cost the county $909,000, with the implementation set for the March 31 through April 13 pay period. The commission set aside $950,000 as part of the budgeting process in 2024. While each department will have an increase in its budget authority, the pay increases will not increase the overall county budget.
Myers said the study compared similar counties but looked deeper at each job’s description.
“The study itself was an in-depth look at job descriptions, not necessarily employees,” Myers said. So, taking the bias completely out of who the employee is within that position or how long they've been here, the initial part of the study was to look at the job descriptions.”
Myers said one of the most significant issues the study fixes is ensuring employees with fewer years of service aren't making more than their more tenured coworkers.
“I would say probably not every single department, but most departments had some, if not a quite a bit of compression where there was pay that was not appropriate for the amount of services they had been with the county,” Myers said.
“The previous policy, as well as what this policy did, did not look at the individual employee or how well they do their job,” Myers said. "It was based on the scientific method to place somebody on a pay scale, and then looking at their years of service on where they fit on the step.”
County Commissioner Michael Berges called the approval of the pay scale “the most important decision we're going to make this year to secure the county going forward.”
“When we're hiring individuals with whatever experience, we know where they're going to be set,” Berges said. “What the expectation is along their employment journey through the county, similar to if you worked at any other private business, they have a salary set, and you have expectations on what to do and how to achieve a higher pay."
Berges also said the change will make it easier to budget in the future because if the commission agrees, everyone will see a one step increase on the pay scale every year.
Myers said employee salaries make up about 53% of expenditures.
“It's helpful for commissions going forward, being able to have that number going into the budget, instead of waiting for departments, each department of saying this is where I think wages should be. ...,” Berges said.
Myers said the study did not ensure that every employee would receive a cost of living increase (COLA).
He said the 3.2% COLA for this year increase would cost the county about $330,000 and delay the implementation of the new study by five pay periods until the summer months.
The commission laid out the 2025 budget calendar later in the meeting. With the cost of salaries already set, they can consider a potential COLA increase later in the budget process.
The changes did not include an increase in pay for county administrator Myers. It did include a 3.2% COLA increase for attorneys who work for the 23rd Judicial District and an increase for the fairgrounds manager.
The commission also approved a resolution that sets salaries for elected officials.
The resolution puts elected officials on a pay scale, just like county employees, but there are no job descriptions.
Myers said the goal of the change is to adjust all wages equally according to the new compensation study.