CCAgenda_03Oct1_wksp - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • In 2003, the city saw a 14% increase in health. Dental was 5.33% • In 2002, the city saw a 13% increase in health. Dental was minimal that year. • The majority of compensation increases for the past three years can be attributed to insurance cost increases. Salary Allocation by Budget Fund: Salaries are allocated by fund, depending on the primary task of that employee and how it relates to that budget function. From time to time, staff reallocates some employee compensation to better reflect that employee's primary work duties. One example is in the sanitary sewer fund. In the past, we did not utilize that fund for very much employee compensation; however, this year, we re-allocated a larger portion of Dave and Colin's time to that fund, because they both perform several duties related to the maintenance of the sewers. Salary Increases: Our general policy is a mix of merit increases and step increases. Typically, we give a 2% to 3% increase to those employees who meet expectations each year in January. Last year, we gave only 2%. This year, I am recommending that we give 3%, based on the excellent performance of all staff, and also to maintain our competitive edge over other cities in the metro. When I was hired in 2000, I implemented a review of all employee compensation, and recommended adjustments to several positions based on my research of comparison cities. At that time, we were facing the • loss of two key staff, and I knew that the replacement of those positions would be much more costly to the city because of market forces, than a modest increase for those employees to entice them to stay on with us. Since then, it has been my aim to try to bring the employees up to a more fair compensation level compared to other cities in the Group 7 category of the Stanton Survey. While we are still in the lowest third of most categories, I believe that we have made great strides in compensating our employees. Because we are such a small city, we ask our employees to be excellent generalists in many different areas, and this requires a higher skill-set. Through my involvement in various professional groups, and at Hamline University, I have been able to talk to my colleagues about staffing patterns, and my current staff. I am proud to tell you that our employees are the envy of the metro, and we are held up as a good example of a city that performs at a very high standard with minimal resources. Our people are our best and most important asset. Collective Barsainin~: The city has no collective bargaining units currently. This allows us to manage our compensation structure more conservatively, and saves time in the management of personnel.