Discussion and possible action on any and all matters regarding Resolution No. 2051.  A resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of San Luis, Arizona, approving and adopting a salary plan replacing the salary plan of 2006; superseding any conflicting provisions of existing regulations, policies or procedures; providing for severability; and declaring an emergency.  (Olivia Jenkins, Human Resources Manager and Monica Castro, Finance Director)

Background: The City of San Luis Council approved to have a second salary study and engaged with CPS HR to conduct a second salary study.  First phase of the study was completed and adopted by council in June 2017, which was composed of determining positions-classification.  City workforce was broken down into three categories; Public Safety (Police and Fire), Executive, Management, and General.
 
Compensation is the second phase of the salary study, which determines wages/salaries for the positions based on current labor market in addition to other factors.  CPS HR prepared the recommended salaries using the Factor Comparison Method.  This method uses the positions minimum qualifications such as knowledge, skills, authority & accountability, and working conditions by assigning points for each classification to serve as a guide to slot the non-benchmarked classifications into appropriated pay grades.  CPS HR benchmarked 40 positions as per contract to determine the labor market median.

It has been tedious work due to the sensitivity, expectations, and not being able to use the current salary schedule adopted back in 2006-2007 as a starting point.  This phase of the study took longer than expected, also due to internal changes within city personnel for example in Human Resources, data collection such as dates of hire, time in position for every employee, and review of 98 positions' minimum qualifications. 

Salaries: Human Resources in conjunction with the Finance Department are presenting the salary study report and recommendations for wages/salaries for city positions as per CPS HR findings and presented as part of the compensation report.

Skills Pay: In addition to wages, compensation report also took a look at other compensation paid in addition to the base salary for specific work assignments and/or certifications.  Human Resources would also recommend that City Council approve the recommended Skills Pay schedule.

Conclusion: Human Resources would like to point out that the city's investment to support the recommended wages and time in position, will require to phase in the implementation.  There are other items that are salary driven such as taxes, retirement, and short-term disability which also affect funding needed.  City Council has reserved funds to initiate the implementation; however, it should be noted that funds will only help bring employees closer to new starting salary.  Human Resources recognizes that city has been experiencing high turnover in some departments due to the non-competitive salaries.  It also recognizes that there are some positions' salaries that fall farther behind in labor market.  Human Resources also would like to note that expectations to place employees in salary bracket based on years in position and/or years of service will not be attainable immediately.  City would have to commit to a three to four-year time frame plan, commit funding by securing sources of revenue, in order to implement and sustain salaries to reach 100% of labor market wages, during implementation and after.