GT County employees earn less than peers

By Brian McGillivary
bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com

May 10, 2008 04:00 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Grand Traverse County officials paid $190,000 to discover their employees tend to make slightly less than their peers elsewhere but have better benefits.

The county board hired the Segal Company in February 2007, to develop new job classifications for over 500 county employees and compare their wages and benefits to similar organizations.

County Administrator Dennis Aloia said the study was justified because it had been 18 years since the county did a comprehensive review of its $21 million annual payroll.

"We've been getting lots of requests for job classification changes, and in some categories we were finding it difficult to recruit people," Aloia said. "It is a substantial amount of money, but it is an investment that will last us 15 to 20 years."

The study compared wages for 58 benchmark jobs to similar positions in the counties of Allegan, Kent, Livingston, Washtenaw, Macomb, Midland and Ottawa, plus Traverse City, the state of Michigan, Munson Healthcare and Traverse City Area Public Schools. The study reduced the wage data in metropolitan counties by up to 9 percent before making comparisons.

Overall, the Segal study placed county employees 11 percent lower than wages at other counties and 4 percent below non-county governments.

Most Grand Traverse County employees had better health insurance, paid time off and retirement benefits than their peers.

A review of individual position data showed the study found many mid-level managers were paid below the market average, while department heads and union staff often were paid at market level.

Segal proposes significant raises ranging from $5,000 up to $20,000 a year for many managers under a new wage pay grade developed as part of the study.

At $62,000 a year, county Clerk Linda Coburn makes less than the Traverse City and Garfield Township clerks and about 20 percent less than other county clerks.

Coburn said she thought her salary was a little low, but she considers it a good job and she's not about to complain.

"I'm just lucky to have a job in this economy," she said.

County officials don't expect the study to prompt any quick changes.

"It only gives us a guideline, it doesn't tell us what we have to do," said county Commissioner Herb Lemcool. "What can we really afford to give is going to be the whole thing."