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Policy on Wages and Salaries

The full policy on this matter is 14 pages in length. Below you will find selected excerpts from the policy and a few summary statements that deal with the issues that seem to be of greatest interest to most people. If you desire copy of the full policy please contact the Larimer County Human Resources Department at (970) 498-5970 or by email at humanresources@larimer.org.

Determination Of Pay Levels For Classified And Temporary Employees:

MARKET BASED ADJUSTMENTS FOR CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEES: It is the goal of the Larimer County Board of County Commissioners to annually review and, when necessary, to adjust the classified employee Pay Plan to enable the County to adequately staff County departments and offices. The Human Resources Department will undertake a review of the Pay Plan each year and will prepare a proposal for the Board of County Commissioners approval. The following process will be used in the development of proposed revisions to the Pay Plan.

The Human Resource Director is authorized to use the Colorado Municipal League (CML) survey as a primary source of information for the annual Pay Plan review. As a general rule, the data used from the CML will be from survey respondents identified in the survey as Colorado municipalities with populations of 30,000 or more (excluding Grand Junction and Pueblo), and participant counties identified in Colorado Revised Statutes as Category One Counties (excluding Larimer County and Pueblo County). When, in the judgment of the Human Resources Director, it is appropriate to do so, salary information from the Poudre School District and the Thompson School District, the State of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado may be included in the information that is used to determine Pay Plan revisions. The Human Resources Director may also use such private sector salary information as is available in a form that can be used to derive an appropriate 50th percentile determination. The Human Resources Director is authorized to use other survey sources such as the Mountain State's Employer's Council surveys, special surveys done by the Larimer County Human Resources Department, or other regional surveys when, in the judgment of the Director, the use of these surveys are necessary to meet the needs of Larimer County.

The Human Resource Director may supplement any of the sources indicated above with any additional data that the Director determines to be appropriate.

After the Human Resources Department gathers the appropriate salary survey data, the following process is used to determine what Pay Plan adjustments may be made.

First, the midpoint of each of the salary ranges drawn from the survey data is calculated. The salary range minimum and the salary range maximum will be summed and divided by two (2) in order to establish the survey midpoint for each appropriate respondent in the survey data. After all of the range midpoints are calculated, the 50th percentile of all the calculated midpoints is determined. The Human Resources Department will determine the 50th percentile level using the percentile function in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or similar statistical software package.

Next, the midpoint of the Larimer County salary range for the benchmark classification is compared to the 50th percentile of the survey data midpoints. The percentage that the County's midpoint needs to change in order to equal the survey 50th percentile is then calculated.

If the County's benchmark classification midpoint is less than half of a salary grade below, equal to, or above the 50th percentile survey result, no salary grade increase will be given.

No salary grade reductions will be done to bring the County benchmark salary grade down to the 50th percentile of the survey results nor will employee salaries be reduced in this situation. It is expected that over time, the survey 50th percentile will eventually rise to equal or exceed the benchmark salary grade. Until that happens, neither the benchmark classification nor the classifications tied to it will receive a market (survey) based salary adjustment pursuant to this policy. However, if after three years the salary grade for this benchmark is still above the 50th percentile, then the salary grade and the employee salaries will be reduced to the 50th percentile.

If the County benchmark's midpoint is less than the survey 50th percentile by half a salary grade or more, an increase of at least one salary grade will be given. As noted above, the percentage to change is divided by 2.5; then, if there is a fraction of a salary grade remaining, the nearest grade is identified. If an employee's salary grade is increased for market adjustment purposes, the employee's payrate is moved upward into the new salary range on a "step-for-step" basis. Any employee whose payrate is frozen beyond the top of the salary range will not receive pay increases until the salary range itself increases to the point that his/her payrate is within the salary range. If an employee's salary is above the maximum rate for his or her salary grade for 3 consecutive years, then his or her salary will be reduced to the maximum rate of his or her salary grade.

Benchmarking: As noted above, the market based Pay Plan adjustments are driven by a benchmarking system. Every job classification assigned to a classified regular status employee will be tied to a benchmark. Market adjustments made to the benchmark classification will drive the adjustments for all jobs tied to that benchmark Generally a benchmark is a classification that is used to measure the market for a whole set of classifications that are in the same broad occupational category. All of the classifications assigned to that benchmark receive the same market adjustment so that the salary grade relationships between them remain constant, and so that they all receive the market adjustment that is appropriate for that occupational group. Classifications will be clustered into benchmark groupings taking into consideration occupational category, supervisor/supervised reporting structures as necessary, availability of appropriate survey comparable, and other relevant information. The benchmark classification is compared to the appropriate market information and all classifications tied to that benchmark classification are adjusted by the same number of salary grades in accordance with the survey results. Benchmarking is necessary because it is impractical for the County to compare each of its approximately 1400 positions and hundreds of job classifications to similar jobs with other employers.

Determination Of Salary Levels For Appointed Officials:

SALARY RANGES: Some of the County's appointed officials are assigned to salary ranges and some are not. For those appointed officials who do have salary ranges, the range is 35%. These salary ranges are not part of a grid and there are no steps in the ranges.

MARKET BASED ADJUSTMENTS FOR APPOINTED OFFICIALS: It is the goal of the Larimer County Board of County Commissioners to annually review and, when necessary, to adjust the salary ranges and/or salaries of appointed officials reporting to the Board in order to ensure that these salary ranges are at levels that will enable the County to attract and retain professional management staff. It is also the policy of the Board to review the salary proposals for the appointed officials of elected officials as provided for by the Colorado Revised Statutes. Each year the Human Resources Department will undertake a review of the salary ranges of appointed officials and will make revisions to these ranges in accordance with the policies provided below.

Each year, in conjunction with the annual budget development process, the salary range for each appointed county official will be considered for revision based on an assessment of relevant market information. Market based adjustments that may be made to salary ranges and to the salaries of individual County Officials will be made as deemed appropriate by the County Manager. The Board of County Commissioners will make salary range adjustments and individual salary adjustments for County Officials. Any market-based adjustment to salaries will be approved by the Board of County Commissioners after a cooperative review by the Human Resources Department, the County Board of Health and the County Public Health Administrator.

The Human Resources Director is authorized to use the Colorado Municipal League (CML) survey as a primary source of information for the annual review of appointed official salary ranges. As a general rule, the data used from the CML will be from survey respondents identified in the survey as Colorado municipalities with populations of 30,000 or more (excluding Grand Junction and Pueblo) and participant counties identified in Colorado Revised Statutes as Category One Counties (excluding Larimer County and Pueblo County). When in the judgment of the Human Resources Director, it is appropriate to do so, salary information from the Poudre School District and the Thompson School District, the State of Colorado, Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado may be included in the information that is used to determine salary range revisions. The Human Resources Director may also use such appropriate private sector salary information as is available in a form that can be used to derive an appropriate 50th percentile determination. The Human Resources Director is authorized to use other survey sources such as the Mountain State's Employers' Council surveys, special surveys done by the Larimer County Human Resources Department, or other regional surveys when, in the judgment of the Human Resources Director, the use of these surveys is necessary to meet the needs of Larimer County.

After the Human Resources Department gathers the appropriate salary survey data, the following process is used to determine what salary range adjustments may be made:

First, the midpoint of each of the salary ranges drawn from the survey data is calculated. The salary range minimum and the salary range maximum will be summed and divided by two (2) in order to establish the survey midpoint for each appropriate respondent in the survey data. After all of the range midpoints are calculated, the 50th percentile of all the calculated midpoints is determined. The Human Resources Department will determine the 50th percentile level using the percentile function in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or similar statistical software package.

The survey midpoint will be divided by 1.175 and the resulting value will be the adjusted minimum rate for that range. The survey minimum rate will be multiplied by 1.35 and that value will be the adjusted maximum rate for that range.

After the new salary range has been determined, the appointed official's salary range must be determined. In most cases, the salary of the appointed official will be adjusted by the same percentage that the midpoint of his or her salary range was adjusted. However, the County Manager and the Board of County Commissioners may choose to adjust any appointed official's salary by a percentage or amount that is different from the percentage adjustment made to the appointed official's salary range.

If the survey indicates that an appointed official's salary range is higher than the 50th percentile range, the appointed official's salary range will not be lowered to the 50th percentile range nor will the appointed official's salary be reduced. However, if the appointed official's salary range is still above the 50th percentile range after 3 years, the appointed official's salary range will be reduced to the 50th percentile level and the appointed official's salary will be reduced to the maximum rate of the reduced salary range.

An appointed official whose base salary is higher than the maximum rate for his or salary range for any reason; will not be eligible for a market based salary increase and his or her base salary will not be permitted to increase as long as it remains above the maximum rate for his or her salary range. If an appointed official's salary is higher than the maximum rate of his or her salary range for 3 consecutive years, for any reason, then his or her salary will be reduced to the maximum rate of the salary range.

MERIT INCREASES FOR APPOINTED OFFICIALS: Until they reach the top of their established salary range, appointed officials are eligible for merit increases as described below. If an employee becomes an appointed official, he/she may participate in the merit increase program as provided for under this policy. For eligible employees to receive merit increases, the appointing authority must complete a performance evaluation by the appointed official's evaluation date. Pay increases are only awarded for standard or better performance; no pay increase will be granted for below standard or unsatisfactory performance. Any appointed official at or above the top of the salary range for his/her position is not eligible for additional merit pay increases; however, the appointing authority must still complete an annual performance evaluation by the appointed official's evaluation date. Merit increases of from 1% to 5% may be granted.