By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The Wood County Park District is trying to clean up the last of the mess left behind from the controversially large pay raises granted – then canceled – for employees in 2010.
Last week, the park board voted on its 2019 budget, including standard cost of living raises plus step raises for all employees.
However, some of the employees will be seeing larger raises in their paychecks. That’s because a consultant found that the pay rates for some positions needed updating, Park District President Denny Parish said.
Those raises range from 10 percent to 23 percent.
“There were flaws in that, we knew from the very start,” Parish said of the old pay system. “It’s been the subject of many discussions.
Parish said the park district board’s two goals for 2018 were to pass the park levy and update the employee classifications as advised by Archer & Co.
The levy passed easily in May, and now the pay grades are being revised.
The original employee pay scale had 25 steps and 16 grades, put together by Parish.
“The original chart was done by hand,” he said.
The new chart is calculated based on hourly pay rates, rather than annual salary rates – which makes it much more exact, Parish said.
Based on surveys and interviews, Archer & Co. determined that some employees were not be compensated for all of their responsibilities. The positions identified as not being paid enough included the operations specialists, administrative assistant, program naturalist, and the office manager/HR coordinator.
“There’s no question that what happened years ago influenced this board,” Parish said. “We needed to convince the elected officials this was equitable and fair.”
The board has been very cautious the last eight years after it was forced to reject the exorbitant pay raises that were met with an outpouring of criticism. That resulted in delayed pay raises and a new salary study conducted by the same consultant used by the county commissioners.
Last week, the employees recommended for bigger boosts in their pay include the following:
- Office/HR manager, 10 percent raise from $61,505 to $67,620.
- Administrative assistant, 23 percent raise from $30,368 to $37,315.
- Program naturalist, 16 percent from $35,172 to $40,892.
- Three operations specialists, one 17 percent from $31,304 to $36,836; one 22 percent from $36,088 to $44,200; and one 22 percent from $33,696 to $41,412.
All of the employees will get at least 3 percent raises – which is the amount expected to be awarded to employees under the Wood County Commissioners, Parish said. That rate, he said was 50 percent lower than the raise recommended by Archer & Co. That suggestion from the consultant did not take into account the “political reality” of the raises that exceed those granted by the county commissioners, Parish said.
But in addition to the 3 percent cost of living raises, the employees will also receive step raises ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 percent more.
Parish said a 3 percent raise for employees would bump up the full-time staff budget by $43,500, and would use up less than 2 percent of the park district’s unencumbered funds. But because of the higher raises for some and the step raises for all, the appropriations for the full-time staff went from $1,209,694 to $1,293,146 – an increase of $83,452.
Two years ago, other large raises were granted to some of the park employees. Based on the recommendation of an outside consultant, Park District Director Neil Munger saw his salary go from $71,697 to $86,587. The assistant director’s salary increased from $55,224 to $67,572; the operations manager’s went from $49,982 to $59,167; the field operations manager’s changed from $49,982 to $60,714; and the chief ranger pay increased from $48,360 to $55,300.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting:
- It was announced that Sandy Wiechman had been appointed for another three-year term on the park district board.
- Park District Director Neil Munger reported that the park district will soon receive six emergency radios and accessories through a grant request made by the Wood County Emergency Management Agency.
- Parish carried through on his promise, and presented a $2,000 check to help purchase an old-fashioned stove for Carter Historic Farm.
- The board went into executive session to discuss land acquisition, but did not take any action on the matter.
