Yesterday, a poorly attended meeting of Northampton County Council received the final presentation from Bolton Partners regarding wages and benefits paid to county career service employees. Unfortunately, only five of nine Council members - Tom Giovanni, John Brown, Jeff Corpora, Jeff Warren and Kelly Keegan - were physically present. Several members have been undergoing medical procedures.
Bolton Partners' Scott Schreiber highlighted the findings of the compensation study. He gave an initial presentation in November, limited to wages. His final exposition compares benefits between Northampton and other counties.
Compensation findings
Finding #1: With the exception of court-appointed professionals, 65% of nonunion workers are only in the first three steps of their pay structures, which indicates they are being improperly utilized. "That's quite unusual," noted Schreiber.
Finding #2: Based on a study of 17 third- and fourth-class counties, the actual compensation paid in Northampton County on July 1, 2023, was 95.2% of what was paid in the other counties. "That's very competitive," said Schreiber. He added that court officers are paid about 10% less than the peer counties.
Finding #3: The middle step of the pay structures are "dead on" the 50th percentile compared to peer counties, but 65% are in the first three steps. They are not at the middle step.
Finding #4: Based on a study of compensation paid to the third-class counties, they pay about 3.6% more than Northampton. "It's a difference, but not a huge difference."
Benefits findings:
These were made on the basis of a comparison of benefits with six third-class counties, including Lehigh. The reason only six counties are included in this peer group is because it was extremely difficult to get reports from other counties on benefits programs.
Finding #1: The employee cost for medical benefits in NorCo is better than the average elsewhere until the salary exceeds $43,000. It is less competitive for employees who make that sum or more.
Finding #2: Dental and vision benefits are competitive with the six third-class counties.
Finding #3: The compensation for short-term disability is only half of that paid by the peer group (maximum $2,000 per week). In Northampton County, the maximum payment for short-term disability is only $1,000 per week.
Finding #4: NorCo pays a maximum $20,000 for life insurance and is only about half of what is paid by the peer group.
Finding #5: NorCo employees are permitted to carry over sick and personal days from one year to the next. Schreiber called this "very generous" compared to the peer group. The maximum there is 85 days. In NorCo, there are currently 105 employees who have more than that accrued. There are 67 individuals with 125 days or more accrued. "It's rewarding long service employees," observed Schreiber. "That is very rich relative to the market."
Pay Study Recommendations
1) Adjust the step structures to stay competitive. - The step increases should be 2.5% to be competitive with the peer group of 17 counties, or 5.2% to be competitive with other third-class counties. The 2.5% step would cost the county $750,000, while 5.2% would cost $1,560.000.
2) Fund a step increase for all employees.
3) Redesign the step structure. - Having 65% of nonunion county employees in the first three steps creates retention issues. These include internal compression; inability to attract new employees; an internal perception of not being paid competitively; and a failure to reward long-term service to the county. "An uncomplicate solution is to divide each step in half." This would make it easier to grant and budget for annual step increases. Schreiber said that the current 4.5% gap between steps is a "fundamental flaw in the design of your structure." He acknowledged it is difficult to budget for a 4.5% step increase every year. A smaller gap would enable the county to move 2/3 of the nonunion workforce out of the first three grades.
4) Fund annual step increases. - If you make it easier to fund a step increase by cutting steps in half, then you need to fund it. This will cost the county about $720,000 a year.
5) The county should have a base pay external market strategy - It should identify a peer group. This could be the 17 counties identified by Bolton or just other third-class counties. After that is established, comparisons should be made regularly to assure that the county is paying a competitive rate.
Fiscal Affairs Director Steve Barron told Council that a shrinking of steps was tried by another administration and was not well received. "The Council used its contingency fund to pay for this study that shows what the administration has been telling Council from Day One. We offer fair wages and contracts to our employees and pay similar to our peers. We are glad this study outs this argument to rest and we will continue to offer competitive wages and salaries so long as we are the administrators of this county government."
I believe the pay study shows there is room for improvement for two-thirds of the employees compressed into the first three steps. I also believe that the suggestion that step gaps be cut in half so they can be awarded every year is a good one. Executive Lamont McClure once told Council that this was something he might consider.
Below is a handout Barron provided to Council showing that NorCo is a relatively small third-class county.
NorCo County Comparison With Other Third Class Counties by BernieOHare on Scribd
77 comments:
We all heard about this, so checked out the video. No surprise by Barron's smug, snarky and self-congratulatory lecture. I hope council does not put this to rest like McClure wants. Sad that not many council people were there and hope they study this report. I was told Heckman would be there as he is very into this topic. Other than the administrations prepared and leading questions by the new McClure bobble heads on council (do they really think they are fooling anyone?), Brown actually made the best ask. WE are not competing with Butler County; you need to look at the local job market. Both public and private. Population is bullshit, it is about local wages and prices.
McClure and Barron refuse to acknowledge that there are serious problems with pay. Since the union bosses are in their pockets, we may never get a real resolution to this problem. The last Executive who cared about steps and employee pay was Jerry Seyfried.
We all heard about this, so checked out the video. No surprise by Barron's smug, snarky and self-congratulatory lecture. I hope council does not put this to rest like McClure wants. Sad that not many council people were there and hope they study this report. I was told Heckman would be there as he is very into this topic. Other than the administrations prepared and leading questions by the new McClure bobble heads on council (do they really think they are fooling anyone?), Brown actually made the best ask. WE are not competing with Butler County; you need to look at the local job market. Both public and private. Population is bullshit, it is about local wages and prices.
McClure and Barron refuse to acknowledge that there are serious problems with pay. Since the union bosses are in their pockets, we may never get a real resolution to this problem. The last Executive who cared about steps and employee pay was Jerry Seyfried.
As I write this response, comments have not yet been posted. I do expect there to be many comments throughout the day. I am a Northampton County taxpayer. Reading this piece, it seems to me our County workforce is paid at about the rates it should be. Naturally, an annual increase in attempt to keep up with inflation (good luck with that!) is reasonable.
I predict plenty of name-calling, ridiculous accusations about people and things, and overall jealous behavior. There will be plenty of blaming Trump for whatever ails people. According to the present administration in Washington things are pretty darn good out there. We ALL know that is a lie.
I really do appreciate the work our County employees do. You deserve more money. After all, at this time in our nation’s history it’s tough to find people to do ANY work at all. That condition, fellow posters, is NOT the fault of the prior administration’s policies.
Unrelated, Bernie, but don't sleep on the new Egyptian bakery on Broad Street in Nazareth Boro. Egyptian bagels in the morning, ground beef stromboli for lunch...
-Bob
Many of the comparison counties are much smaller and way out in western Pennsylvania where the cost of living is much lower.
Thanks to the mass exodus during the Brown Administration the County workforce is relatively young. These employees are set to make bank in the future.
Wow ! The paid time off benefits are out of sight !
If the employees get a Step increase this year, won’t they be overpaid compared to their peers ?
Where was Lori ?
This study comes up short in some areas but is a good start. We are forced to pay for our medical benefits. Are other Counties? If I start at pay step one, it takes me twenty years to get to pay step 20. Is this comparable to other Counties? It looks like McClure is taking care of unions, but as career service employees we are getting short changed. The study shows that there are several short comings that should be addressed. Now what will the County do? Council should not sit on this report. We are still underpaid.
How about changing the Step Structure and pay for it by charge for parking ?
Free Parking seems like a pretty cool perk ?
Lori Vargo-Heffner skipped Council meetings yesterday to be at a political event in Harrisburg.
Lori just handed Brown a road map to screw the employees when he returns to the Executive Suite.
I believe LVH was there via phone.
BOH, do you think Barron's immediate recoil is due to his thin skin regarding any criticism, constructive or otherwise, or his visceral disdain of council's participation and check on administrative authority? The study had good suggestion for improvement. Barron was having none of it. What's up with that?
8:56 AM Look at Finding 1
I see suggestions to increase compensation where it lags, but there is no recommendation regarding "very rich" time off benefits (Finding 5). Shouldn't recommendations be based on overall benefits and costs of those benefits? In other words, if changes are made to only address where compensation is less attractive than peer groups, but no changes are made where they are more attractive, isn't that just going to screw the taxpayers?
All these employees are new to the county within the last 5 years. That’s why there are so many on the first couple rungs of the ladder.
Lamont was wrong. This report was awesome.
Lori Vargo Heffner is neglecting her Council duties to play big shot with the Federation of Democratic Pennsylvania Women.
"Unrelated, Bernie, but don't sleep on the new Egyptian bakery on Broad Street in Nazareth Boro. Egyptian bagels in the morning, ground beef stromboli for lunch...
-Bob"
Are you Bob or Satan? I have heard nothing but rave reviews about Baba's on Broad. And that's something bc Nazareth already has two superior bakeries - Naz o Nut and Sweet and Savory. I have fallen victim to the allure of both of these bakeries, and now that a Middle Eastern style bakery with excellent bagels has joined the mix, I am going to have an extremely difficult time sticking to a healthy diet, lol.
I am going to treat myself at Easter and will definitely try.
"BOH, do you think Barron's immediate recoil is due to his thin skin regarding any criticism, constructive or otherwise, or his visceral disdain of council's participation and check on administrative authority? The study had good suggestion for improvement. Barron was having none of it. What's up with that?"
Barron was certainly following orders. The report actually supports many of the claims made by the administration about county pay, even if limited to third class counties. But there clearly is a need for improvement when 2/3 of the workforce is unusually stuck in the first three steps. The recommendation to shrink the gap between steps and make increases a regular thing is a good one. It might be unpopular at first but if it is applied consistently, I think morale will improve, people will stick around and long-term employees will be justly rewarded for their service. McClure spoke favorably about this himself at a Council meeting a year or so ago.
Lol, Bernie. I agree. Too good.
- Bob
I wish Ron were there yesterday. He’s smart, experienced and compassionate. He would have been able to, eventually, put it all in perspective for the public.
"Lori Vargo Heffner is neglecting her Council duties to play big shot with the Federation of Democratic Pennsylvania Women."
I believe (I could be wrong) that she was present by phone. I heard her at the end of the meeting. Some Council members have medical issues but I am sure they watched the video.
Maybe cut back some of the paid time off and use it to pay more.
Sounds like a great place to work.
Lori was at CCAP yesterday instead of at Council. She should resign.
As a taxpayer, I hear one thing. The pay is “competitive.”
Are you going to raise my taxes to overpay public employees ?
Little Stevie Blunder, while a bit breathless, was pure genius yesterday !
Everybody should watch this on YouTube. Watch the brilliant Steve Barron in action.
Stefan G. Barren, Jr. truly is the @norcomoneyman
I’m tired of Lori ignoring her constituents.
Fair wages. Fair benefits. Free Parking. What’s next a free health center ?
The Union employees have made even more money than the civil service under both McClure AND Brown, but don’t tell anybody.
Lori Vargo Heffner wasted 100K for this study and then went to Harrisburg for a portrait unveiling of Barbara Hafer ? Where are her priorities !
It would be interesting to know of that 65% of the workforce that are in the first 3 steps, how many of those are tenure employees. Perhaps tier step raises for those senior employees. For those employed 10+ years, give them 2 steps to move them up. Those employed 5+, give them one step. Some of them may be new employees but you should incentivize those who definitely have been employed 10+ who are still within the first three steps.
So the answer is to cut the steps in half and double the amount of steps? So they want to take a pay scale like the one the Corrections Officers have, which is currently 11 steps and double it?
Does it sound even remotely fair to tell someone that it will take them 20 years to get to the top rate? Or how about compared to inflation? There is no mention of a COLA. If you reduce the step increase to only 2.5%, how do you expect your employees to stay ahead? Inflation the last 10 years has been close to or above 2.5%.
2024: 3.2%
2023: 3.4%
2022: 6.5%
2021: 7%
2020: 1.4%
2019: 2.3%
2016-2018: 2.1%, 2.1% and 1.9%
You're asking your employees to make no headway in regards to pay, just stay even with inflation. Good luck getting anyone to agree to this.
11:12 am - our government claims inflation is a certain number, but is it real? The formula used does not include any reference to food or fuel. So, according to my experiences, the rate of inflation has been about 10% per year for the past 3-4 years, at least. Then, figure in the shrinking amount of product you get for those higher prices. Unless someone is getting at least 7-8% more per year they continue to slide backward at a growing pace.
Union employees make more than career people on a percentage basis, but most CS salaries are higher.
Heckman guaranteed Lamont won’t raise taxes. That’s all I care about.
When John Brown beats McClure he’ll have a lot of meat on that bone to cut.
No more Free Parking !
Pay to Park, Park to Pay !
Council spent all this money on this study and they couldn’t even bother to show up.
In the real world.no one is keeping up with inflation. No one gets raises. Be happy for what you get appreciate bit as not every one has those benefits and time off or raise
Vote in different leaders to address the inflation
Day care
That Tara Z showed Stevie how to really Control last night. She schooled him.
If Lori attended CCAP AND participated in the meeting, she's to be saluted for multi-tasking. Phones are a thing. Many people can perform more than one task at a time. Others ... they need to stop doing that one thing or they'll go blind.
Since McClure and Barron gamed the report, it was obvious they saw it before council who paid for it. Time for a home rule study to stop one-man rule in the county. The McClure/Barron thin skin way of dealing with the county council is obvious. Even the prepared questions for the two bubbleheads were obvious. What about the uneven way he treats the non-union employees vs the union people. Total BDS.
Sad the executive and his cronies have zero respect for either the employees or county council. What is the pay for th new Director??
She is being schooled with a lot of help.
The good people who work for Northampton county are about 25% under paid. They need 100% free medical and a defined pension plan. Maybe if people like Ron Angle would pay their fair share of taxes then the hard working people would finally get paid their worth.
Medical coverage has skyrocketed. Help me to understand why when we all are paying very high premiums for healthcare that we should pay for you to have free healthcare? Would you want to pay for my free healthcare? Sadly it's something we all have to do you get paid time off an holidays more than the private sector. Be grateful
Oh and they have a pension plan
Couple of inaccuracies stated by the consultant or firm.
First, PERSONAL time DOES NOT roll over year to year unless there is a request to HR or county admin with a damn good reason someone didn’t use their personal time allotted. If not approved it’s wiped to 0 hours at end of each year.
Second, sick time accumulation? But how does that benefit the employee? If I’m not mistaken an employee ONLY gets UP TO half their sick time - no more than a quarter of their salary when they retire voluntarily from the county. So county wins! They have a healthy employee whom rarely used sick time meaning county didn’t fund overtime to cover the ones that banked sick time. Sure you can sell it back for vacation time but you get 40 hours of vacation for 80 hours of sick.
I understand that if you leave the county voluntarily anytime before actual retirement you get O dollars of sick time paid out. They could give 1,000,000 hours a year and I will still struggle to see how that benefits employees.
Department heads are also told not to take pay raises or increases to county admin. Is like taboo to even discuss although some department get movement yearly.
And I’ll say this, in my many, many years of working for the county I can attest that the lazier or less competent you are the more money you make. It’s disgusting.
Many of us are $15,000 below some counterparts at the same level of position with a few years on us.
And did they take the benefits from 2023 or 2024. Career service pays now double the deductible then last year and .50 or 1 percent more each paycheck for coverage.
This report hopefully captured all of this.
Anon at 12:58pm
You do understand that the government can’t control private business created inflation? Right? I mean a business can charge whatever they want or create as little of a product as they want to create “demand”. Demand causes inflation due to people over bidding for less inventory of said item. You do understand that right? I hope so.
Sure new “leadership” could get someone in to lower rates, but that could help push inflation back up. As a business owner, I understand it well. And our prices higher then ever and will stay that way no matter who is in office! Trump screwed us with that tax cut for the 1% only! Payback now to you supporters!
The majority of county employees are NOT paid well. Many divisions are understaffed because of the low hourly wage. The current employees are underpaid and overworked and can barely keep up with the workload. Maybe you need to investigate the different offices and find out the truth.
Jerry Seyfried was County Executive 30 yrs. ago. If you're still working for the County you must have a great job.
As for the pay study, you must compare the salaries not only what is paid in other Counties of comparable size, but also what is paid in your local job market and that includes benefits. Otherwise the study is useless and that is exactly what this pay study is....useless. If you think so highly of your Mr. Seyfried, why not ask him to comment on what he feels are the short comings or good points of the job study. The last time a study was done had to be almost thirty years ago or longer.
Finding #99 Baron and McClure will be out of a job next election. This report is bogus, I am not a county employee. If the county is competitive with wages and benefits why are there so many vacancies and turnover at the County? Ladies and Gentleman of county council you have wasted the taxpayers money on this report by using smaller counties than Northampton. Let’s look at Lehigh and Bucks and see what those numbers are.
Finding #100 All county employees should vote McClure out of office.
Oh, quit your whining and go find another job if you're not happy at the county.
7:28 - Some of your logic is OK, but you are ABSOLUTELY wrong in saying the Trump tax cuts only went to the 1%. Everyone’s tax rate went down on the same amount of income. Of particular note, this including pension income!
You also fail to acknowledge all new costs placed on the business owner are then passed down by him/her to the consumer. If new government-mandated regulation fees and expenses hit the business owner, those are filtered down through to consumer pricing. if someone sells birdhouses and the price of lumber goes up, so does the price of each birdhouse.
Did they include in the study how many managers in Northampton County make less money than the people they supervise? Unfortunately this is a thing here.
It's important to be honest. County gets extra personal days based on years worked in addition to holiday time and generous vacation time also accrued. Some positions still also receive compensation time. So the personal days are only a few that have to be used but the accrued vacation can roll over. Secondly sick time can accrue to a large amount of days if you don't use them the benefit if you get really sick and need surgery or treatment you can get paid for months of not working. Rarely see this in private sector jobs. You also can use sick days all year at a number not even close to the personal sector. And ask a retiree how much they enjoy that check if they have time when they retire! Most companies don't roll over any time. County employees still get great benefits. Deductible for health care is high for everyone. Admit you stay because the benefits still remain great!! Change pay scale to a few steps and start salaries higher.
Whenever I see these comments from NC government workers, I'm reminded of this scene from the Drew Carey Show.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph9I-qPQ6FU
There are open positions and turnover one every company
6:22AM
So are you a Millionaire? Billionaire?
Those are the people who made out the best under Trump tax cuts. More BILLIONAIRES made under the trump administration than before. Why?
I mean why are you sticking up for the super wealthy, they care more for their animals than they do for you, the common working person.
The SCOTUS, who trump placed a majority of super conservative justices that will determine laws that will affect you and your children life.
Back in the 1950, businesses paid 70% in taxes, why not today?
Big problem in the county is people in positions who don’t belong in those positions. Gracedale staff does many more tasks than are listed on their job description and are not compensated for it.
There are county employees with masters degrees, working in their field, and making $15/hour. There are division heads several pay grade below other division heads in the same department. There was one retired employee that was told they could not be bumped up in pay to match their peers (even though they had seniority) because it would upset said peers. Pay is not fair in this county
I hope so
If it’s so great, why don’t you go work for the county then?
As for millionaires and billionaires, 11:31, those are the people who make high-priced purchases, paying huge amounts of state taxes. Those are the people who employee other people and create income for those other people. Those are the people who make many charitable donations, build wings on to hospitals, endow scholarships at schools so others can earn an education that allows becoming millionaires themself.
As for business having their tax bill doubled, who do you think actually ends up having those increased costs of doing business? That would be me and you who purchase their goods and services.
9:46 AM
How do you think those people millionaires & billionaires made their fortune? Through utilizing the infrastructure that the common person built up throughout the years in their paying their fare share of taxes. Those roads, train railways, and airports were built through using tax money from the 50’s. Now it’s time that they pay their fare share of taxes and that goes for Social Security. Do you know what the max the rich pay into for SS? It’s shameful that anyone would back the greedy rich in allowing them to pay less taxes. What is a great salary for the rich? 2 million a year? 5 million? Reality is 10times that look into the salary of our local CEO. Figure it out and then tax them at 100% beyond that because the money they make beyond that is coming from lowering the standards for everyone that works for them. The middle class has been shrinking, 40 years now, because they are misinformed about history, proper salaries and benefits. Time to wake up!
As I read you, 4:37, I think ‘union boss.’ I surely don’t share your understanding of those with more assets than I possess. Nor, how best to gather more assets for myself. Unfortunately, you are not alone in your thinking as America continues its political decline.
This is about basic principle pay more and we all pay more. It's not about trump
I did
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