Merit pay discussion moved to full Jefferson City Council

The Jefferson City Council's Administration Committee was asked point-blank Wednesday if city employees can receive performance or merit pay increases. However, it deferred the decision to the full City Council.

City Administrator Steve Crowell asked the committee, which consists of City Council members, "What is the City Council's direction for all city departments in regard to pay merit increases above the across-the-board salary or wage increases, discussed and approved by the council for the fiscal year 2022 budget?"

The Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department has given merit-based pay increases in recent years when other departments haven't gotten any.

While Crowell has final say for all other departments, city statutes give the parks director authority to give out raises within the department.

Parks Director Todd Spalding said after the meeting he has authorized merit-based pay increases within the department during the last couple years.

Crowell said his question isn't about a specific department or the funding to offer pay-for-performance raises, but rather he's looking for direction regarding the city as a whole.

Pay-for-performance or merit-based raises come as a result of annual supervisor evaluations around the person's hiring anniversary, Human Resources Director Gail Strope said. How an employee scores would determine how much of a raise he or she would receive.

Historically, Crowell said, the maximum amount was 5 percent when the program was in place.

In the past, Strope said, city councils would allocate a certain amount during the budget season that could go toward merit-based raises, but that hasn't happened for the better part of a decade at least.

Spalding said he used extra funds from the personnel budget - for instance, money saved if a position is left vacant for part of the year - to go toward merit-based raises.

City Attorney Ryan Moehlman said it is permissible to offer merit-based raises because it is still listed in the personnel manual as a program.

However, Crowell said he hasn't been giving them because the manual specifies it "shall be further limited to the funds available and budgeted for such advancements."

He took that to mean within a budget specifically set for the program rather than a department's personnel budget as a whole.

Crowell's concern with using leftover personnel funds for the program is it increases an employee's base salary for the following year - which then needs to be budgeted for - and not all departments have the same opportunity.

For instance, Finance Director Margie Mueller said, Moehlman's legal department has three employees, which means there's less room in the personnel budget than the streets department would have since it has more employees.

"They have turnover. They have vacancies," she said. "They have a lot more flexibility to have the savings because of not paying 100 percent of what was budgeted for every single person."

The Administration Committee elected to move the discussion to the full council without offering a recommended course of action.