Fayette County

commissioners want more information before making any wholesale changes

in pay classifications.

In coming weeks,

County Administrator Chris Cofty will create a draft request for proposals

aimed at finding experts to conduct a study.

"Until

we have all the facts and information, it's impossible to make an informed

decision," said Commissioner Linda Wells during discussions last

week.

During budget

talks last year, commissioners were presented with a study conducted by

the Atlanta Regional Commission, but that study includes all the counties

in the metropolitan Atlanta area, and commissioners said they don't think

it makes sense to compare Fayette County with huge, urban counties like

Gwinnett and Fulton.

Some workers

would have received salary increases of more than 30 percent if that study

had been used to restructure Fayette's pay plan.

During the

budget talks, commissioners did implement a cost of living adjustment

and new merit pay plan, but delayed any action on the ARC study, promising

to return to the topic later.

"We have

excellent employees and we want to fairly compensate them," said

Wells. "I want the employees to understand that this is not a put-off.

We're going to do this study and, Lord willing, before the end of the

year we'll get this implemented," she added.

Commission

Chairman Greg Dunn also hastened to point out that delaying action on

the pay plan doesn't mean workers won't get salary increases in this year's

budget. The COLA is still in effect, he said, along with the merit plan.

"This

has nothing to do with COLAs or merit pay for the coming year," he

said.

Commissioners

discussed having Georgia Tech graduate students conduct a study, and voted

unanimously to have Cofty bring a definitive plan for a study that compares

county workers' salaries with those in comparable sized counties.

Another goal

of the study would be to reduce the number of pay classifications. "I

think we've got as many as 17 steps," said Commissioner Herb Frady.

"There are actually 30 some-odd levels," Cofty said.

"This

will help us determine whether we have the right number and quality of

employees in each position," Frady said.