The Oneida County Board heard the first run through of a potential comprehensive change how the county pays most of its employees.
Consultant Charles Carlson outlined a plan using private market factors...among other considerations... in determining a median wage scale. It also sets up pay based on performance for department heads rather than just time served, and finding a way to bring Oneida county closer to state average on benefit costs, most notably health insurance.
One of the keys..says Carlson... is a grading matrix which allows supervisors to put a value on what each employee does...
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"....the general notion should be jobs that score the same should be paid the same.....but it gives us a way of grading with a common measuring stick across all different types of jobs...
The plan employs a pay step system. Supervisors could get more money if they perform to much high standards. Carlson says prior to the ACT 10 law, the local contracts mostly set the pay, which ran the length of the contract. After the change in public bargaining rights, he says local governments now are more responsible for individual pay for employees.
One graph showing Oneida county far above average in terms of paying employee health costs. The Kaiser Family Foundation surveys what public health costs are across the nation. It showed a full family plan averages about $16,000 per year. Oneida county is paying about $21,000 and picking up 92 percent of the cost....
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"....if I took this plan down to the southern end of the state, probably get it about 16 grand. Health care is more expensive as you move north, and up the (Fox) Valley. Competition...access.....
The board will have a month to digest the complex proposal, then possibly take action in February.
