After seeing the controversy about a pay study that erupted in Peachtree City recently, and after more than an hour of discussion at its Nov. 13 meeting about a proposed classification and compensation study, a majority of the Fayette County Board of Commissioners decided that they didn’t want any study right now.
A motion to accept a contract with the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government at a cost of $26,250 was rejected, with negative votes coming from commissioners Steve Brown, Randy Ognio and Allen McCarty. Commissioners Charles Oddo and David Barlow voted in favor of the study.
Ognio and McCarty, citing their personal experiences in business, stated several times during the discussion that they didn’t see the point in bringing in an outside agency to tell them what county officials could determine on their own.
Brown noted that he wanted to see some other important issues resolved before moving forward with any kind of pay study, adding that such a study should be reasonable for taxpayers as well as employees. He pointed out that none of the commissioners currently have a complete policy and procedures manual, and any adjustments in compensation should come only after in-depth budget discussions.
The Carl Vinson Institute conducted the county’s last pay classification and compensation study in 2007 and has assisted the county since then at no extra charge with updating job descriptions, grading new positions, creating new job descriptions and maintaining pay grades, according to county officials. The county also contracted with UGA to conduct a study of Fayette County Water System positions at the two water treatment plants in the fall of 2013.
Alex Daman, the Carl Vinson Institute representative who addressed the board, made it clear at the outset that his organization would not be recommending pay increases for employees as that was in no way the focus of the study.
County administrator Steve Rapson also pointed that out, saying that the proposed study was simply a “best practice” upgrade of the 2007 study.
“We are not proposing a wholesale revision of the county’s pay and classification system — no new salary scale, no across the board pay raises, no salary compression analysis or equity adjustments for longevity,” said Rapson.
Several comments by various board members and county staff noted what some consider a controversial recent move in Peachtree City to raise employee salaries, and county officials received correspondence from county residents expressing their concern about possibly moving in that direction.
It was pointed out more than once that Peachtree City would not be one of the jurisdictions used in comparison during the proposed study, nor would Atlanta or north side jurisdictions be used. Instead it would focus on surrounding counties such as Henry, Coweta and Spalding along with the cities of Fayetteville, Tyrone, Newnan and Griffin.
