Scott Schreiber, Managing Director of Bolton USA, updated Northampton County Council yesterday on a pay study his firm is conducting of the county's 434 career service employees, who make up 22% of the workforce. He has enough information to discuss pay based on information about 6,000 jobs in 17 other third and fourth class counties. No comparison to private firms or union wages was made. His firm is still compiling data to compare benefits.
His preliminary findings:
Northampton County currently pays 95% of what career service employees are paid in similar jobs elsewhere.
A large number(257) of career service employees are stuck in the beginning three steps. "That's a little bit unusual," said Schreiber.
His recommendations:
Step increases should be 2.25% so they can be funded every year.
Increase the number of steps.
Fund a step increase and career service will be where it should be.
Executive Lamont McClure stated that former Exec John Stoffa tried 2.25% steps "and they went away because they were so unpopular," But he's happy to see that the pay study reveals that nonunion workers are being paid 95% of what is paid in 17 other third and fourth class counties.
Step increases should be awarded more frequently to prevent salary compression and improve morale.
34 comments:
Please have the company provide the counties they contacted and the person they spoke to. I’m not a county employee, there is no way that Lehigh and Bucks county are paying the same wages as Northampton County. some offices pay 14-15.00 to start. You can make more money an hour at Wegmans. The county pays more money on maintenance every year on the voting machines and they don’t work.
Not sure what goes on here in NC. When I was in Lehigh County, for each grade level, there were steps A through H. You worked your way through, usually one step each year at your hiring anniversary as long as you merited a decent performance review. These step increases were always included in each years personnel budget, with the assumption that employees would earn them. There was roughly a 5% increase between steps. When you reached step H, you were "maxed out," unless you 1. Moved to a higher grade position or 2. Managed to get your position upgraded by successfully arguing yhat your duties and responsibilities merited a position review and upgrade. In any case, there was almost always an across the board cost of living increase, somewhere between 1-3%. From what I gather, this does not occur in Northampton?
Good. This should be controversy free. But give your commentors time...
Should be no surprise to anyone. Now council must have them do the union employees so they can see how McClure and the union boss have played them for fools on pay.
Glad this was done over the kicking and screaming of McClure.
It would be helpful to negotiate a rebate for the Panto Tax. They could trim funding for something earmarked for Easton to pay for it. It's legal if the initiatives are kept separate. It would be a good thing for ALL employees who get their pockets picked by Slippery Sal.
Why would they be considering pay scales in fourth class counties when Northampton County is a third class county? The fourth class counties (including Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Centre, Fayette, Franklin, Monroe and Schuylkill) have populations 1/3 - 1/2 the size of Northampton County and therefore have a much smaller tax base. I have to wonder if they weren't included in order to minimize any concerns with the pay in Northampton County. I think a more accurate and fair measure would be to compare the pay of other third class counties and those of the surrounding counties.
@7:12AM makes a very valid point. Hopefully, when the study is complete, a full explanation and analysis will be provided to council and the public. Would be helpful to know size of budget, number of employees, pay v. benefit percentage, total county budget, etc. for the counties used to compare and determine the “95%” figure.
County should have saved their money. Nothing will be done with this. Flex the muscles that we are at 95% yet we have people who work for county full time and still qualify for food stamps. Yet we wonder why we aren’t able to keep qualified staff and we keep asking current staff to do more for no additional financial compensation. And I’m referring to positions not covered by a CBA. At least Northampton County can take pride in being a paid internship program. We train them and then they leave for better paying jobs and we start all over.
Hey @7:12 am Third Class Counties and larger 4th class counties were considered. I know you want the SE Counties that have higher costs of living to be factored into a study, but this is a true study done without bias and it is clear... Northampton County pays its workers fairly.
The best was the look on Lori's face when Barron explained that the Council's Consultant suggested something that was tried before and explained that workers would not be happy.
Careful what you wish for LVH.
I hope they show some of the costs of living in some of the other 3rd and 4th class counties and Lehigh Valley area. I would say are cost of living is considerably higher due to its proximity to New York City and Philadelphia. The mere cost for property is astronomical in this area. What is the cost of living in Dauphin Lackawanna, Cumberland, or York counties.
As they said adding in 4th class counties gave this pay study a CONSERVATIVE skew. They purposely did this to make the study show that the county is paying fairly when we all know that they are not. Why are all the employees leaving and going to neighboring 3rd class counties? Likely because they can get better pay and progress through steps.
But the real interesting thing is why have employees not been progressing through their steps. No reason to stay at the county if they don't reward years of service and experience with the county.
Career services employees are under paid and we pay the highest amount for our medical benefits. We are getting a .5% increase in employee contribution and a $1000 increase in deductible in 2024. Our increase will be minimal. Inflation has far exceeded salary increases. There have been no step and COLA increases at the same time for many years. I’ve been employed in career services for 15 years and am on step 4. Either there is ignorance or blatant lack of concern within both the Executive Office and county council with failing to see the full picture. When my counterparts in other counties are making 10,000 to 20,000 more than me there is an issue. There are caseworkers earning the same or more. If the county wants quality, dedicated and experienced career service staff changes need to made. Each position should be looked at individually to determine the appropriateness of where the employee is in the pay scale, start offering step increases based on merit and return to adding COLA increases to keep up with inflation. Lastly, balancing the books on the backs of employees is wrong. If you want quality services provided to the citizens of Northampton County, compensate our value.
Needed a study to tell you the NC employees are underpaid. The employees have been telling you all along! You didn't listen. Now what about the underpaid that are retired????
"Some offices pay 14-15.00 to start. You can make more money an hour at Wegmans."
THEN GO TO WEGMANS AND WORK!!!!!!
Jeezus it's not indentured servitude. You don't think you're paid enough, leave and go work somewhere else.
Signed,
The Taxpayer
County Council clerk needs a reduction in pay. She is ridiculously paid taxpayer money.
It depends on what counties they were using. Luzerne and Lackawanna counties are third class counties, but the cost of living is lower up there. If Northampton is making less than them then they are way underpaid.
I know a guy that’s been a CO at the jail for almost 20 years and he doesn’t make much more than a new guy. That’s crazy!
And speaking of McClure, any speculation as to why he petitioned PA Supreme Court to change his attorney status from Retired to Active? It was approved.
Why not include SE counties ? If we are including counties with lower costs of living than Northampton County, we should include some with higher costs of living as well. It's crazy that this Administration thinks pay if fair here, but hey, anything for votes right ! Northampton County is booming with business and is a major thruway between New York and Philadelphia. To compare us to counties like Beaver. Monroe, Schuylkill etc is a slap on the face. It's pathetic this Administration just can't be honest. Can't use Bucks County but let's use Schuylkill. Yea that makes sense. Ridiculous
@10:10 am... study says you are not underpaid. Are you even paying attention?
@11:33 am if people start leaving, good luck providing services when the county is already struggling to cover shifts or fill positions. Kind of sad that the response is suck it up and accept it or leave. Really shows how valued the employees are. Guess we are on valued when we’re used as a campaign piece.
@11:47 wonder how the council clerk’s salary compares to other counties. Was that in the study?
Bernie apply also ?.
I recommend a study to determine if undertaking an additional study should be studied.
To 9:32am
I suspect from your defensive response that you are with the administration. Fourth class counties should not be considered in a pay study for Northampton County which has a population of 313,000 and has far more businesses than any of those counties. As a matter of fact, none of those counties came close to Northampton's population. Butler came the closest with a population of 194,000 with Monroe and Beaver coming in next at 169,00 and 166,000 respectively. The rest of the counties had less than half of our population. I know that Northampton's pay is significantly lower than Lehigh's and Buck's which border out county and just a few years back, Monroe wasn't that much lower than ours. As for other third class counties, I suspect that Northampton County's pay is lower than many of them and the author of the study needs to identify the pay in the other third class counties and stop trying to misrepresent the situation.
Classic! Love it!!!
Hey there @3:45 pm. Since you think I am from the administration you must be LVH lap dog. so I am gonna guess one of the people who work for council. That said... you commissioned the study, don't be salty that is blew up in your face!
Hey guys I would be very skeptical of Scott Schreiber, Managing Director of Bolton USA. Look into his record and verify the results and picture he paints. There is an easier solution, just start raising taxes on the rich and businesses. Just roll them back, to where they were 30 years ago and you will have monies to give everyone a pay raise and 2% increase above the inflation rate as a yearly bonus. Do the math and be happy, or not.
McDufus picked the company and of course they will come back with what he wants. This county will continue to lose quality employees and sheriffs are $10000 behind other counties and so are court appointed employees. Time to vote him out and get someone else that might make change but most likely continue to screw over the employees
I use to work for Northampton County.When I first started our pay steps were 5 years then you were topped out, So on you anniversary date you go a step increase of 4.5% then every year we also got a cost of living increase.This was great but Glenn Reibman took our steps away and did not give us any raises and had employees laid off one year also.John Stoffa added more steps every year he was there. After being with the County 27 years and changing jobs 3 times I retired still not topped out, Great pay system NOT! Benifits were also better but every year they made us pay more for benifits so the raises were crap then!
It appears yiu are not paying attention. The author of 10:10 reports they have moved only 4 steps in 15 years. How much has inflation increased in 15 years? An increase of 4 steps is an unlivable wage. Think about it.
As unfortunate as it is it's a fact everyone everywhere pays for the increased health care costs out of their raise if they are lucky enough to get one. Times have changed
It’s time for career services to unionize. If council and Mclure ignore the needs of our career service staff and gaslight us with bulls*^t reports the issue must be addressed in a different way. The only way to achieve equitable treatment, pay and benefits is to move forward with unionizing.
I too worked for the County back in the 90"S when they did a pay study. They came up with a five step pay scale and we got COLA'S every year. Then came Brackbill who gave us a 20 position pay scale. You never get to the top of your pay range. Then came Reibman who didn't help anything and made us pay increased costs for benefits. Then came Stoffa and Brown who really screwed us over. Now we have McClure and he's shoving it up our butt. I will be leaving next year. I pity the workers who are going to be here after I leave. This is not a nice place to work.
Annon 12:00, Ever since Brackbill, County Executives have played with the classification system and used it to reward their people and screw others. Time for county Council to fix it.
I can promise you that Lamont and chuck told them to include 4th class counties in this study. So it could curve the percentages in their favor. They were never going to do a apples to apples comparison. They know it would have been a disaster for him. That is why they don't do union pay. Because even adding in the wrong counties those numbers would blow up in their face.
But all a mute point now. they put their feet up on the desks with their hands behind their heads after the election. He has his chickens all lined up.
But who knows how accurate those elections are. Gotta watch it implode, which it is happening. Might as well put boards on the juvenile justice center now. You are gonna have the national guard watching inmates in the jail soon. And who knows who will be watching the courthouse. But don't worry all is well..lol
One can still rent a livable apartment in most of those 4th class counties for 600-900/month. Try that here!!!
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