Title
Adoption of Compensation Philosophy (B)
The City of Gainesville's Compensation Philosophy has been established to provide City-wide guiding principles for the establishment and implementation of all aspects of compensation.
Explanation
This item was discussed at the Personnel & Organizational Structure Committee on February 23, 2006 (no action, no quorum). The Commissioner present requested this item be forwarded to the next City Commission meeting on March 13, 2006.
On March 24, 2004, the City Auditor's Office presented their findings with respect to the pay study conducted in 2003. The Audit and Finance Committee recommended that the City Commission direct the Charter Officers to: 1) draft written policies providing guidance for future pay studies and submit to the City Commission for review and approval including the following: a) policies should address the timing of pay study reviews, general methodologies to be followed and how future pay studies will compare City salaries to the external market, taking into account geographic indexing, industry type and organization size; b) consideration should be given to whether future pay studies are completed in-house or by an outside consultant; c) consideration should also be given to how to include Charter Officers in the process, i.e., which Charter Officers, what are their roles and how and when they are to be involved; and 2) provide the Commission with reports on salary increases on an annual basis, including averages over the various categories of employees and other significant issues such as redlining and one-time adjustments. On April 12, 2004, the City Commission approved this recommendation.
The Charter Officers met on February 6, 2006 to discuss their views of the City's compensation philosophy. As a result, a draft Compensation Philosophy was developed, which addresses the City's position in the external market, internal equity, timing, and the use of outside consultants to perform the work.
Consideration was also given to inclusion of Charter Officers in the process, i.e., which Charter Officers, what are their roles and how and when they are to be involved. The Charter Officers agreed on the following: 1) at the beginning of each three year period, each Charter will be given the option to participate in the pay plan update; 2) each Charter will be given the option to review the Request for Proposals and to appoint a member to the outside consultant selection team; 3) the Charter Officers will serve as an executive committee with the purpose of reviewing staff recommendations with respect to compensation and any related personnel policies and provide the City Commission with the appropriate reports; and 4) the City Auditor's Office will maintain its independence in order to retain the option to audit the implementation at the City Commission's request with the intent to make recommendations for future pay studies.
Fiscal Impact
None
Recommendation
The Personnel & Organizational Structure Committee requests the City Commission: 1) adopt the Compensation Philosophy as developed by the Charter Officers; and 2) accept the process for inclusion of Charter Officers in the pay plan review process.
NOTE: This item is being forwarded as the recommendation of one member of the Committee.