THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 8, 1994 TAG: 9407060143
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
THE CITY'S top managers may like the idea of earning big money years down the road. But some City Council members don't think it's possible.
``We're setting high expectations that we can't meet,'' City Councilman Arthur L. Dwyer said at the last council meeting. ``I think we're putting too much money at the top, and I can't support that.''
City Council members generally approve of a pay plan proposed by City Manager James W. Rein. But some, like Dwyer, don't like one of the plan's features: higher maximum salaries for the city's top managers. Dwyer has directed city staff to whittle away at those numbers.
Employees who would be affected range from office supervisors all the way up to Deputy City Manager Clarence V. Cuffee.
Rein, however, reminded City Council members that the proposed pay plan is designed to match salaries for comparable jobs in other cities and companies. Decreasing the numbers, he said, could put the wages of some Chesapeake employees below the market rate.
The exact cuts have not yet been decided. They will be considered during the July 12 City Council meeting.
The council asked for a new pay plan because the current one is outdated and underfunded.
Previously, the city based its pay raises on ``steps,'' each worth a 2.5 percent merit raise. Employees were allowed to climb several steps in a single year. But the system failed because wasn't been enough money for step raises during lean budget years.
For the last three years, the city has been giving employees across-the-board increases or nothing at all.
The new ``pay-for-performance'' plan eliminates steps and allows for more flexibility in determining raises. It also increases the pay ceiling for longtime employees who have ``maxed out'' in the current pay plan.
While steps are gone, ``ranges'' are in. For each job, there is a minimum pay and a maximum, but all raises will be based on the number exactly between the minimum and the maximum.
Say a maintenance worker at the lowest level is earning $12,500. He'll get a percentage raise based on $16,230 - the number in the middle. A worker making $18,000 will get a percent of the same $16,230 figure.
That means the longer you've been with the city, the smaller your raise gets. It would take about 15 years for most workers to get from their mid-salary to their maximum, said Charles Hendricks, the consultant who devised the new pay plan.
J.E. Newbern, a city planner, has been among the loudest critics of the new pay system. The plan, he said, boosts new employees at the expense of more senior employees.
``This plan is generating a younger generation of employees,'' said Newbern, a planner for 30 years. ``The older ones are being bypassed in many ways.''
The city already has approved $1.9 million for merit raises in the 1994-95 fiscal year that began July 1. That's a 3 percent raise on average; some workers will get more, some less.
Another $665,000, or 1 percent of the $66.5 million payroll, was approved to restructure the pay system. Part of the money will allow the city to boost workers in underpaid positions.
The consultant for the study is recommending that the council approve an extra $681,621 to guarantee 3 percent raises for workers who perform well and to maintain a salary gap between veteran employees and newer workers.
Over the last three years, new hires have been able to match the salaries of existing employees. For example, a 3 percent across-the-board raise might bump a city plumber's salary from $20,000 to $23,600 - which becomes the new rate.
A few days later, a new plumber is hired at $23,600, demoralizing the veteran workers.
Supervisors like Jay Tate have watched disgruntled workers leave the city for better-paying jobs.
``We greatly need a system that provides incentive to employees,'' said Tate, special projects supervisor in the engineering division. ``For the last four years, we've been unable to reward people who have performed.''
In some cases, a worker could be training someone who took home the same pay, said Hendricks, the Washington, D.C.-based consultant hired to look at the city's salary and job-classification practices.
Hendricks also found that longtime workers became disgruntled because they topped out on the pay scale.
Also in his plan:
520 workers would be reclassified to more accurately describe their duties. Most workers received salary boosts, but a handful received an instant demotion.
26 pay ranges instead of 50, with maximum pay higher at each level to keep longtime employees from getting ``maxed out.''
Some city employees have complained about their new titles and ranges. They say Hendricks' study didn't take into account some of their duties, the stress levels and other components of their jobs.
Ron Hepler, for example, says his position in the Public Works Department does not compare to those of other cities.
``We think we're being penalized,'' Hepler said at a public hearing last month. ``We felt our position itself has fallen through the cracks.''
All workers were given a chance to appeal. Those appeals were due last Friday.
Some city employees also have privately complained about increases in maximum pay for department heads.
Deputy City Manager Cuffee, for example, is the highest paid employee under the plan. The most he could earn under the present system is $95,647. He could make up to $112,667 under the new plan - a wage based on the market rate. However, it would take him years to reach that amount.
Cuffee also would have his raise based on $91,542 - that number in the middle - instead of the $85,946 he currently earns.
Some top managers appear to get bigger boosts. But officials say those employees were either underpaid under the old system or have taken on additional duties.
For example, the most Public Information Director Mark Cox can make right now is $61,359, while the new system sets his maximum pay at $84,446. Cox's raise would be based on $68,612 instead of his present salary of $54,818. Cox, however, recently took on several new duties as liaison to the state legislature and head of Chesapeake's cable television operation.
The proposed maximum salaries for Cuffee, Cox and other high-ranking employees could be lowered by the City Council. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SUSAN LEICHTMAN
Under the proposed pay plan, Deputy City Manager Cuffee could make
up to $112,667.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE CITY EMPLOYEES SALARIES
CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL
by CNB