BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's elected officials want to reward county employees who put in years of service by adding provisions for longevity increases to the county's pay plan.
The county's Job Evaluation and Salary Administration Program Committee will discuss a longevity pay proposal when the panel meets at 10 a.m. today, said Barb Ludwig, county human resources director.
What's next
Benton County’s Personnel Committee will consider pay issues and requests for new and additional employees when the panel meets at 6 p.m. June 30 in the Quorum Courtroom of the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville.
Source: Staff report
The committee is made up of the countywide elected officials and Shirley Sandlin, justice of the peace for District 8 who is head of the Quorum Court's Personnel Committee. Any recommendations from the committee will be forwarded to the Personnel Committee for discussion by justices of the peace. Longevity pay has been discussed as a way of allowing employees to move up within the range of pay established for their pay grades and positions, Ludwig said.
"Normally, the way people would move up is through merit pay," Ludwig said. "But they've not been consistent with giving merit pay. They try to give cost-of-living every year, but they don't always have enough money to give merit pay as well."
County Clerk Tena O'Brien thinks longevity pay can help address built-in problems with the county's pay scale.
"There are people who work here for years and they can never get to the maximum pay for their positions," she said. "I think people who work hard and stay with us should be able to do that."
The proposal before the committee would provide longevity pay at five-year intervals. One option would give employees a $500 increase at 10 years, a $750 increase at 15 years and a $1,000 increase at 20 years. A second option would include longevity pay of $250 after five years of service.
The committee also will discuss allowing elected officials more control over their personnel budgets, Ludwig said. The county's current salary system sets grades for each job and establishes a pay range for each grade. Elected officials want to have more authority over their personnel budgets, she said.
"They want to be able to manage their own budgets," she said. "For instance, if they hire somebody into a position for less money that than the person who had been there they'll be able to keep the money in their budget and use it. If they're promoting someone into a position they may want to give them more money than the person who had been there before. It gives them more flexibility."
Elected officials have asked for more budget control in years past, but the Quorum Court has never approved the request, Sandlin said. Past concerns have been raised about possible misuse of such budget authority, she said.
"I've still got mixed feelings," Sandlin said. "If we can stay with actual evaluations and not have personalities involved that would be fantastic. I don't know if that can happen, which is why it's ever been allowed before."
NW News on 06/23/2015