The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a work session before their regular meeting, on Jan. 28, to review the preliminary results of a compensation study by JB Reward Systems. Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen explained that the study compared the salaries of public employees in Wrangell to those of similar municipalities, to see how they stacked up and whether or not Wrangell is a competitive location for potential hires.
"Basically, our three fundamental goals would be to have a structure that was competitive enough that we could attract the kind of skills we want to attract, and one that also has mechanisms over time and as you develop skills to be able to retain good people," said Vance Jacobson, presenting the draft compensation study. "If there is that possibility to have any sort of exceptional rewards for employees, it would be compatible with doing that kind of thing."
The main "competitors" that Wrangell is facing in hiring new people, according to the presentation, are varied. Local public services and employers, for example, can draw people away from interest in city employment. Wrangell also has to consider how their compensation stacks up against other municipalities in the region and across Alaska, such as Petersburg, Ketchikan, Haines, and even farther-off cities like Valdez and Kodiak.
The results of this preliminary study show that public employee wages in Wrangell are close, but below average. Wrangell salaries fall in the 43rd percentile, Jacobson said, while the goal is the 50th percentile, or the median of salary ranges in the region.
"The 50th is the median," he said. "That means that half the employers have higher salary ranges, and half have lower salary ranges. So your competitive standing overall meant that 55 to 60 percent of the employers now have higher ranges and 40 to 45 percent of the employers have lower. There's been a little bit of fallback in turns of competitiveness."
Wrangell pays its city employees on a 13-step scale, from the minimum wage offered for a position to the maximum. Jobs are also divided among 35 different "grades," indicating higher minimum and maximum salary ranges. Provided with the compensation study was a draft salary schedule, with proposed wage changes to make Wrangell jobs more appealing. Jacobson gave an example of a proposed change. The job of dispatcher/corrections specialist has moved up from Grade 14 to Grade 16. The preliminary compensation study also recommended, among other things, that a separate salary grid be created for electrical utility jobs, as utilities have their own market dynamics unique to other city jobs. Altering the wage scale will be an ongoing discussion, borough officials said, and nothing is set in stone yet. This subject will be covered in several future workshops and meetings.
"Again, I just want to make sure everybody sees on here this says 'draft,' specifically for the members of the press that are in the audience that are looking at this," Von Bargen said. "This is absolutely not a final version and should not be used for anything that goes to print."
Reader Comments(0)