The town of Signal Mountain could pay up to $13,000 for a study to determine if it’s underpaying its employees. Such a salary study is recommended every three years to make sure compensation and job levels are in line with similar positions outside the town.
“It’s a good idea to keep on schedule because if you go five, six, seven years at a time you have to jump everybody all at once, plus your employees are being underpaid,” Town Manager Honna Rogers said. “The last time we did [a study] was three years ago. I don’t think all our jobs are off.”
What is off is the $13,000 price tag. The town had budgeted $2,000. Rogers is researching other options, such as employing an intern from Municipal Technical Advisory Service and contacting the since-retired compiler of the last study about renewing his rate and services. Staff could perform a basic study in-house – Rogers did so while working in Sevierville – but she said she’d “like to separate [herself] from it.”
The last – and first – time the town did such a study “a good many” employees were found to fall below the average salary for their position and were brought up to the minimum median. At the time, the all-inclusive study cost the town $5,000 through a sort of group rate for a collection of municipalities.
“Nobody else wants to [participate],” Rogers reported. “Not even all the other cities have implemented the minimum [salaries] yet.”
Of the 63 job descriptions which apply to the town’s approximately 90 employees, Rogers estimates less than a dozen may need adjustments. Most of those are department heads she believes may be classified on the wrong level.
“I don’t know that every job needs to be surveyed,” she said. “I’d like to at least check and see what it would cost for someone to do a spot check.”
As Councilman Dick Gee pointed out, everything is available on the Internet, however those job descriptions and responsibilities differ in different places. An office worker in a larger organization with more employees may have fewer duties.
If figures do come back skewed, the town council would have to approve any further action. Next year’s budget process is about to commence, and any adjustments would be “late last-minute” at best, according to Rogers. Amendments could come later.
“I don’t think the market changed an incredible amount due to the economy,” Rogers said. “What usually adjusts those scales are when inflation goes up, and inflation just hasn’t changed that much.”