During a presentation on a citywide study of job classification and compensation by Milliman Inc. of Seattle, Bainbridge City Council members learned during Monday night’s meeting that Bainbridge Island city employees receive approximately 9 percent above the market median (50th percentile) when comparing actual salaries.
The compensation analysis was from 34 cities that responded to Milliman’s request. Most of the responding cities were primarily from Washington, but some were from Oregon, said Greg McNutt, a compensation consultant and principal with Milliman. Yakima, Renton, Spokane Valley, Marysville and Lakewood were some of the municipalities that responded.
“You have a lot of tenured people here,” McNutt told the Council. “You have 86 percent of the people that are at the top step.”
Some of the recommendations given by McNutt for managing the city’s staff included:
— Managing base salaries toward its intended market position. This action will maintain desired market target.
— Maintaining benefits in their current form. This will provide employees both the opportunity to save for retirement and act as a safety net against unforeseen health issues.
— Maintaining salary structured at their current range width, but create mores steps within each grade with annual increments of approximately 3 percent between steps. This would cause pay progression problems to diminish over time.
— Manage high fixed costs of base salaries.
McNutt’s presentation to the City Council was for information only and no action was taken on it.
The new City Manager (and
old City Administrator) Mark Dombroski gave a detailed assessment
of the city’s financial challenges at a Bainbridge Island Chamber
of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday.
