MONROE - The City of Monroe Salary and Personnel Committee began the daunting task of reviewing its salary schedule for non-union employees Tuesday.
Following a committee request from Sept. 20, City Administrator Phil Rath presented figures comparing the current salaries of 19 department head positions with those in nine other southcentral Wisconsin cities with similar population.
Rath's survey showed the City of Monroe is currently paying department heads salaries that are between $2,900 and $24,000 below the average of salaries in other cities in the region.
Rath noted that salary differences can be caused by varying years of experience, education and job descriptions.
Also, some cities did not respond to some positions. Rath said the cities may not have the same positions that Monroe has, or may have combined positions.
Details of the reported salaries will be reviewed by committee members individually in the next few weeks, before coming back to the table for more discussion.
From the reported salaries for specific positions, the survey results show the salaries of about half of Monroe department heads, including treasurer, engineering supervisor, recreation director and street supervisor, fall below the salary range of their counterparts in other cities.
Rath supplemented the survey results with a chart of Monroe's non-union employees' salaries from 2008 to 2012, which shows they each have received a salary increase totaling between $1,100 and $1,700 over the past five-year period.
The chart also shows that had they received salary increases using the same rates as union personnel received through collective bargaining contracts, those salaries would have been about 2.5 times greater, or between $2,900 and $4,200, during the same five-year period. Department heads did not receive raises in 2010 and 2011.
Some committee members and other aldermen asked why the salary schedule was being reviewed at this time. Making adjustments now is too late for the 2012 budget and too soon for 2013, they said.
Rath maintained that the job of ferreting out the details of the salary ranges could take months, before any decisions to change the city's salary schedule could be made.
Rath said he wants a "proactive" plan in place, to avoid situations of trying to determine a competitive salaries to offer when advertising for new and replacement hires, which the city ran into this year. He also hopes having a plan in place will help stave off the loss of current employees, some of whom have had to absorb extra duties as other positions have been eliminated.
Following a committee request from Sept. 20, City Administrator Phil Rath presented figures comparing the current salaries of 19 department head positions with those in nine other southcentral Wisconsin cities with similar population.
Rath's survey showed the City of Monroe is currently paying department heads salaries that are between $2,900 and $24,000 below the average of salaries in other cities in the region.
Rath noted that salary differences can be caused by varying years of experience, education and job descriptions.
Also, some cities did not respond to some positions. Rath said the cities may not have the same positions that Monroe has, or may have combined positions.
Details of the reported salaries will be reviewed by committee members individually in the next few weeks, before coming back to the table for more discussion.
From the reported salaries for specific positions, the survey results show the salaries of about half of Monroe department heads, including treasurer, engineering supervisor, recreation director and street supervisor, fall below the salary range of their counterparts in other cities.
Rath supplemented the survey results with a chart of Monroe's non-union employees' salaries from 2008 to 2012, which shows they each have received a salary increase totaling between $1,100 and $1,700 over the past five-year period.
The chart also shows that had they received salary increases using the same rates as union personnel received through collective bargaining contracts, those salaries would have been about 2.5 times greater, or between $2,900 and $4,200, during the same five-year period. Department heads did not receive raises in 2010 and 2011.
Some committee members and other aldermen asked why the salary schedule was being reviewed at this time. Making adjustments now is too late for the 2012 budget and too soon for 2013, they said.
Rath maintained that the job of ferreting out the details of the salary ranges could take months, before any decisions to change the city's salary schedule could be made.
Rath said he wants a "proactive" plan in place, to avoid situations of trying to determine a competitive salaries to offer when advertising for new and replacement hires, which the city ran into this year. He also hopes having a plan in place will help stave off the loss of current employees, some of whom have had to absorb extra duties as other positions have been eliminated.