Report: City workers underpaid

Iola City Council members will further discuss city wages at their next meeting July 28.
They will refer to a commissioned report that says city employees are underpaid an average of 7.5 percent when compared to other municipalities across the state.
The Council took its first look Monday at a compensation study developed by the Austin Peters Group, Inc., that said the city would need to spend nearly $100,000 to get city pay up to par.
The report sparked a debate amongst council members about working conditions for Iola employees.
“I’m going to support implementation, even if we have to drag it out over four or five years, which isn’t ideal,” Councilman Jon Wells said. “We really need to do this for our employees to get to the median wage.”
Wells cited the difficulties the city has faced in filling two vacancies in the Iola fire and ambulance department because prospective workers can be paid more elsewhere.
“We struggle with it, and it’s only going to get harder if we’re at the bottom of the range,” Wells said.
Mayor Joel Wicoff, conversely, urged caution, particularly when considering the city’s 2015 budget.
He noted the city already must find ways to cover a $377,000 shortfall for its ambulance service by the end of the year.
“We’ve got good employees, and they’ve worked for us for a long time,” Wicoff said. “They’ve got good jobs, and they’ve got good benefits, and they get COLA (cost of living adjustment)
“How did they determine what qualifications and what the pay ranges were going to be?” she asked.
Slaugh said he would have the side-by-side scales for the council at its next meeting.

THE FIVE-MONTH study began in February with interviewing department managers and at least one employee in each department followed by a ranking process, which looked at several criteria, including decision-making and supervisory factors, physical demands, working conditions and knowledge required.
The ranking criteria utilized established human resource standards, Slaugh said.
Next, organizers took a collection of salary and benefit data from “benchmark communities,” others with comparable services or working conditions as Iola. Those studied were Allen County and the cities of Abilene, Baldwin, Bel Aire, Chanute, Concordia, Fort Scott, Goddard, Mulvane, Osawatomie, Paola, Spring Hill, Valley Center, Wamego, Winfield, Garnett and Parsons.
Slaugh noted employee salaries were compared only with other muncipalities, and not private businesses.
If adopted, the new ranges would put Iola in the market average, meaning half of the other employers would pay more than Iola, and half would pay less.
City Councilman Bob Shaughnessy pointed out the raises would amount to more than 7.5 percent because of cost-of-living raises employees already receive.
“Most likely, that 7.5 percent will be 10 percent by the third year,” Shaughnessy said.
Slaugh said this week he recommended the city spread out implementation of the new pay plan over three years, although Wells said he would like consider an option of using for four five years to get the new scale fully in place.