Clarification on the Market Salary Adjustments

Posted on November 26, 2008. Filed under: Uncategorized |

There has been a lot of information in the media about the market salary adjustments for the non-unionized staff at City Hall. Unfortunately, some of this information has created a lot of discussion and based on the emails we are receiving, it appears that there is a lot of confusion as to what exactly has occurred. I have been responding to as many emails as I can, and I know there are still several people waiting for my response. I have attached the media information that is posted on the city website to assist in getting the correct facts out to everyone.

Please take a few minutes to read this information – the salary adjustments are not pay hikes for senior management or for the Mayor and Council. There has been a market survey and job evaluation process that began in early 2006 to review salary and job classifications for 280 positions and the final results were presented to Council in January 2008. This review was done by an independant consultant hired by the city.

Media Release:

November 24, 2008 – Waterloo City Council opted to take more time to look at options to fund a $1.8 million shortfall in the three year budget.

During Monday’s Council meeting, a number of options were included in a report that outlined proposed budget adjustments. In referring the decision to December 8, Council expressed a desire to more fully understand the recommendations before them and to create an opportunity to consider the proposed recommendations for budget adjustments in the context of the broader budget. Council voted unanimously to refer the decision on budget adjustments that were proposed for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 budgets to the December 8 budget day.

The target $1.8 million for these adjustments is based on previously approved expenditures related to job evaluation and market salary work that was conducted over the past three years and approved this past July.

Many of the recommended changes to the budget that were put before Council would have subsequent impacts on the organization and on the community. These include impacts on service such as reducing leaf collection, reducing terrestrial monitoring and eliminating expansion dollars allocated to economic development, as well as a delay in operating funding for the West Side district library branch from the fall of 2010 to the winter of 2011. Staffing impacts included in the recommendations would amount to a net reduction of 3.5 full time equivalents. Opportunities for efficiencies include more effective use of advertising dollars, implementation of the food services review, and in house water and waste water billing services. In referring the decision, Council asked staff to include the potential budget adjustments and subsequent impacts as part of the broader budget discussions that are scheduled for December 8.

The following provides background information related to the budget adjustment recommendations that Council was asked to consider.

Background Information – Budget Adjustment Recommendations

Overview:

The report that was presented asks Council to consider options to adjust the existing budget in order to identify $1.8 million required to fund the job evaluation and market salary survey work that began in 2006. Council approved the implementation of this work on July 14.

The report presents options to adjust the existing budget, not to approve the outcomes or salary increases that resulted from the work.

Background on Job Evaluation:

A job evaluation process was initiated to establish internal equity within non-union positions. Job evaluation measures four factors common to all positions: skill, responsibility, effort, and working conditions. At the end of the process, close to 280 jobs were evaluated and a new banding structure was introduced, defining the relative positions of the jobs evaluated to achieve internal equity. This process was focused on staff association roles. The staff association is the negotiating body for staff at the City who are not associated with CUPE or the fire union, and includes employees at all levels of the organization.

Background on Market Salary:
Towards the conclusion of the job evaluation process, a market salary survey was initiated. An external consultant, Watson-Wyatt conducted the initial survey, looking at a total of 35 positions and considered comparators with comparable size of the organization in terms of budgets, number of employees, municipal sector and job content (not job titles). Data was collected from the following municipalities:

City of Guelph            Regional Municipality of Waterloo
City of Burlington       Regional Municipality of Niagara
City of Cambridge       Regional Municipality of Durham
City of Oshawa           Regional Municipality of Halton
City of Kitchener         City of Barrie
City of London            City of Kingston

In addition, the Mercer Municipal survey and AON Municipal Survey were reviewed for further information, which was provided to CMT and to Council. The final stage of this process was a third party review conducted by representatives of the Audit Committee, members of Council, along with representation from CMT and from Staff Association. The outcomes of that market salary review were presented and approved by Council on July 14.

Timeline:
- The last full job evaluation was completed in 1995, with the maintenance of that program continuing to the end of 2004
- A consultant was selected in the spring of 2006, which marked the beginning of the process.
- Over the course of the initiative, the job evaluation committee evaluated a total of 280 jobs
- The results were announced in January 2008
- An independent consultant reviewed the results in April 2008
The market salary data was reviewed by the Audit Committee in May 2008
- Council approved the implementation of the job evaluation and market salary survey results in July 2008
- Staff reported back with recommendations to address the unfunded portion of the cost in September. At that time, Council directed staff to make adjustments within the existing budget in order to address the $1.8 shortfall.
- The recommendations for adjustments brought forward to Council today allow for a balanced budget in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Budget Adjustments Recommendations:
The adjustments being proposed relate to the 2008, 2009 and 2010 budget. The target for these adjustments is $1.8 million based on previously approved expenditures that are related to job evaluation and market salary. The recommendations being put forward would achieve a balanced budget for these years, as was approved by Council in December 2007.

Impacts and Outcomes:
Many of the recommended changes to the budget have subsequent impacts on the organization. They are as follows:

Potential service impacts:

reduction in leaf collection
elimination of the cul de sac turf renovation program
reduction in terrestrial monitoring
elimination of expansion dollars that were previously directed towards Economic Development
a delay in operating funding for the West Side district library from the fall of 2010 to the winter of 2011
reduction in transfers to the Uptown Reserve Fund.

Potential staffing Impacts:
The recommended budget adjustments call for a net reduction of 3.5 full time equivalents, which could also have the potential to impact service as these

Opportunities for efficiencies:
Recommendations for efficiencies include more effective use of advertising, implementing the food services recommendations and bringing water and waste water billing in house.

These recommendations will now be considered during the December 8 budget day deliberations. Full details can be found in CAO-08-11 – Budget Adjustment Recommendations, found on page 42 in the Council Agenda Package www.waterloo.ca

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