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Commission Minutes—July 26, 2023 5748 <br />no COLA was given, and the past two years where the CPI has been irregularly high and the <br />Commission has adopted a percentage lower than the recommended CPI. <br />Mr. Wilson said the Commission Policy Manual Section 13.90, Pay Philosophy directs the County <br />every three years to engage a professional outside the Fargo-Moorhead area to conduct a salary <br />market analysis. He said an analysis is currently being completed by the County's salary consultant, <br />Gallagher. Mr. Wilson said preliminary results indicate an adjustment is not needed, however, the <br />study did find the County's actual salaries and middle range steps are below market. He said <br />Gallagher has indicated the cause for the dip in the actual and middle range are due to the large <br />number of steps in the County's pay matrix. Mr. Wilson said the County has also been working with <br />Gallagher over the past year to get a recommendation on the number of steps in the County's pay <br />matrix. He said Gallagher completed the step study last July and recommended the County reduce <br />the number of steps in the pay matrix to 12. He said at time the study was not implemented due to <br />the timing of when the study was complete, 2023 budget hearings, and the Finance Office <br />implementing a new accounting software. He said Gallagher is working on giving the County a cost <br />estimate for the implementation of a 12-step pay matrix that has larger percentage increases to <br />lower pay grades to mid-point to address current compression issues. Mr. Wilson said Gallagher is <br />expected to give a cost estimate to implement the 12-step matrix by the end of the week. <br />Mr. Peterson asked what other local entities are considering for pay increases in 2024. Mr. Wilson <br />said other entities are also working on preliminary 2024 budgets and no figures are set, however, he <br />has discussed with counterparts and believes others are considering an average of 2% to 3% <br />increases. Mr. Peterson said it is hard for the salary survey to quantify and compare the total <br />benefits package including salary and benefits. He said the County offers competitive healthcare, <br />retirement, and other benefits. <br />3. COUNTY ADMINISTRATION <br />Commission <br />Mr. Wilson discussed the 2024 Commission budget. He said the Commission budget is similar to <br />previous year requests with a notable increase in travel costs for $500 per Commissioner. He said <br />the increase is off set by another travel budget that was budgeted in the past, however, not utilized. <br />Commission Projects <br />Mr. Wilson discussed the 2024 Commission Projects budget. He said the Commission Projects <br />budget is similar to previous year requests with small increases to legal fees and insurance fees. <br />Human Resources <br />Mr. Wilson discussed the 2024 Human Resource budget which includes the Human Resource, <br />Administration, and Communications operating expenses. He said the budget request is consistent <br />with the request from 2023 with the largest changes being a decrease in newspaper publishing costs <br />for job advertisements, an increase in travel costs, the addition of the Mental Health First Aid <br />Training, Vision Insurance being removed from this budget and added to individual departments <br />budget, and a request to reclassify the Public Information Coordinator position. He said the budget <br />includes a request to reclassify the Public Information Coordinator position from a C42 step 3 to a <br />C44 step 5. He said this position was created in 2020 and has evolved to a Communications <br />Director position. <br />Mrs. Scherling said the Communication position should go through the County's normal process of <br />being sent to Gallagher to be graded. Ms. Peters said the position was brought through the standard <br />process, to the Personnel Overview Committee in April and the direction of the Committee was to <br />bring the position forward to be approved within the 2024 budget before being sent to Gallagher. <br />She said the job description has been updated and is ready to send to Gallagher to be graded upon <br />approval by the Commission.