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| Escambia County currently employs 177 staff members that earn less than $13 per hour. A plan is being forwarded to Commissioners to raise all staff to a minimum of $15 per hour over the next five years....It will be an interesting conversation. |
There is apparently an initiative coming to the Escambia BCC from staff to move toward a $15 minimum wage per hour incrementally over the next five years. This is the email all commissioners received. I know it would help us in hiring and being competitive with other local governments and employers. It will be an interesting conversation.
From the email:
"Hi Commissioners,
During the recent budget meetings with Department Directors,
it became very apparent that most Directors are having trouble recruiting new
employees and retaining current employees at our lowest hourly salaries. Many private businesses, local governments
and states are phasing in a $15 per hour minimum “livable” wage ($31,200) over
several years. If Escambia County were
to adopt a 6-year phased approach to achieve this goal, we could start by
implementing a $13 per hour minimum wage this next fiscal year (2019 - 2020)
for full-time County employees, and then annual 3% cost of living salary
increases over the following 5 years would achieve the $15 per hour minimum
wage by October 1, 2024.
Our County Budget Office determined the number of full-time
employees (not including part-time, relief, student and training positions) who
are currently earning less than $13 per hour ($27,040). There are 177 full-time County employees
(mostly Custodial Workers, Equipment Operators, Emergency Medical Specialists,
Maintenance Workers, Detention Assistants, Animal Control Officers, Library
Clerks, and Office Support Assistants) who would be earning less than $13 per
hour this October 1st, assuming that the 3% COLA is approved in the
2019 – 2020 budget. If we raised the
salaries of these 177 employees to $13 per hour on October 1, 2019, the cost
would be approximately $378,258. The
6-year plan to achieve the $15 per hour minimum wage would assume a 3% cost of
living increase each of the following 5 years from 2020 to 2024:
County Employee Minimum Wage Oct 1, 2019: $13.00 per
hour Cost Year 1: $378,258
County Employee Minimum Wage Oct 1, 2020: $13.39 per
hour Cost Year 2: Included in 3% COLA
for all employees
County Employee Minimum Wage Oct 1, 2021: $13.79 per
hour Cost Year 3: Included in 3%
COLA for all employees
County Employee Minimum Wage Oct 1, 2022: $14.20 per
hour Cost Year 4: Included in 3%
COLA for all employees
County Employee Minimum Wage Oct 1, 2023: $14.62 per
hour Cost Year 5: Included in 3%
COLA for all employees
County Employee Minimum Wage Oct 1, 2024: $15.06 per
hour Cost Year 6: Included in 3%
COLA for all employees
The $13 per hour minimum wage for 2019 – 2020 would be a
bold first step to achieving the goal of a $15 per hour minimum wage for
full-time County employees by October 1, 2024.
This will help multiple County Departments with employee recruitment,
retention, and morale. Please let me
know if you have any questions, and remember not to “Reply All”.
Thanks,
Chips"
8 comments:
In addition to benefits. Interesting.
Would the pay discrepancies between departments still be addressed for those over 15 bucks an hour if this was to happen?
Well from what the county wasted on the Roundabout study pushed by D2 and D4 and change orders, you could pay your employees better. A good deal of institutional knowledge walked out the door at a higher level staff this year and that is worth more than the bottom line.
On another note, it's good to see more people waking up to how asinine Underhill is with his half cocked ideologies and for the moderators on his supposed citizen site to have to keep deleting comments similar #FDU
Hope Chips isn't the next one targeted for bringing an attempt at shoring up the county organization.
At least -- level out the discrepancies of pay for the same employees working side by side with union people.
Your employees are worth more than they are given credit for. Protect and keep them.
Elected officials come and go, in some cases Thank God for that.
Steve-That would definitely need to happen and be a part of this discussion. Raising the pay of the lowest earning employees would naturally create some compression above on the scale--so that will need to be considered. But I think this is a worthwhile conversation to have, and I do think if we can get pay up by finding efficiencies elsewhere in the organization (and NOT by raising tax rates) we will be more competitive with NFCU, the Hospitals, DoD, etc.
I agree with what you said. there are so many jobs that can not be filled in the county because of the low wages. It is not because of a brick wall of mismanagement as some have stated. For example,Most people are not going to work for the county operating a bush hog in the summer heat for 10.71 an hour, when they can go to work at Target for 13 bucks and have an air condition job that pays more. Just my opinion.
I believe you are on the right track. Let's see how this discussion will turn out.
Drop the Pensacola Bay Center. 2009 Tax watch said to get rid of it--10 years later still here. The debt service is high. Just think what it would be like here if the hurricane hits.
The beach ad valorem should be going into county coffers --yesterday. So what if democratic women bitch. Fee simple.
Who is responsible when the storm surges wipes out the buildings on the leased properties?
Hurricanes are real. No roundabouts, Imagine the clean up.
Note the majority of the county is NOT coastal. Don't let them bring LA to its knees.
A bit of a raise may be helpful but productivity of middle managers could be utilized and encouraged or those positions eliminated.
What am I missing. One comment D2 says support public safety the next he says not to raise pay.
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