County moves forward on plan to close pay gaps
Of Isabella County’s full-time, non-unionized and non-trial court staffers, 79 percent are paid less than the prevailing market wage. The remaining 21 percent earn more than market rates.
Those were among the findings of a study presented to the Isabella County Board of County Commissioners in December. And resolving those discrepancies will be the ongoing challenge of an ad-hoc group of director-level administrators.
Dubbed the Market Study Implementation Group, the team formed in February to review the research and come up with some guiderails on how to bring salaries in-line. The county board received its preliminary draft and approved a plan to move forward during its regular meeting Tuesday night.
“I don’t want anybody to think it’s an ‘us versus them’ kind of thing,” Community Development Director and working group member Tim Nieporte told the board. “This is not an all-inclusive, raises-for-all-county-employees kind of thing.”
In November 2023, the commissioners approved a contract to have Amy Cell Talent conduct a study looking at everything from job classifications to salaries. The goal, county documentation showed, was “to provide Isabella County with a revised and justifiable wage structure meant to address all updated job classifications and job descriptions.”
That’s because, over the past several years, many department heads have said it was hard to attract and hire qualified applicants at the current pay scale. The new proposal, approved via unanimous vote Tuesday, provides a 10-step framework to close the gap on salaries that sway outside of the market rates.
But, Smith said, the work is far from over.
“We want to have honest and frank discussions,” he said. “When someone comes in and says ‘we question this position’ (the Market Study Implementation Group) is going to provide all their information. They’re going to take notes. They’re going to come before the Board of Commissioners for the final yes or no.”
The committee’s recommendations will next be drafted into a formal policy, which is expected to be presented to the Finance Committee/Committee of the Whole June 10.
