Referred to: The Ways and Means Committee (Chairman Gavaris and Legislators Cahill, Fabiano, Ronk, and Walter)

Legislators Joe Maloney and Laura Petit offer the following:

WHEREAS, every position within Ulster County government is tax payer funded and those funds should be spent efficiently and effectively, while being communicated in an understandable way to the taxpayer; and

WHEREAS, every budget cycle the Ulster County Legislature is offered a budget document with salary lines and titles which the body has limited time to review and determine if set salaries are fair and equitable across and within county government; and

WHEREAS, in 2019, the Ulster County Legislative Standing Committee, Ways and Means, requested a salary study(s) and, to date, there is no known current compensation salary study of Ulster County’s workforce as a whole; and

WHEREAS, using inconsistent compensatory salaries puts the County at risk of creating pay inequity and potentially over or under compensating personnel lines on certain positions; and

WHEREAS, without baseline data of Ulster County’s workforce and pay scales, it’s challenging to effectively determine compensation for employees in various roles; and

WHERAS, Civil Service has established a precedent for associating pay scales noticed with each job description; and

WHEREAS, in order to retain qualified people to accept jobs and perform for the community and the taxpayers, pay equity and transparency are a key component; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, Ulster County shall commission a salary/compensation study performed either in-house by the Legislative Financial Analysts, Ulster County Comptroller or contracted by a third party, no less than one time every four years, as determined by and for submission and review by the Ulster County Audit Committee, with the first study completed prior to the 2023 Ulster County budget cycle; and, be it further

RESOLVED, that each such study shall collect data which shall include but not be limited to; each active title, evaluation of knowledge or license required by the position, supervisory controls, complexity, physical demands, and work environment; and, be it further

RESOLVED, that each such study shall compare the salaries of all individuals with those of the same title within and throughout the county and those with similar job features within the county; same title and/or similar job features with at least three surrounding county governments that must include one north and one south of Ulster County government,

and moves its adoption.

ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:

AYES:                        NOES:  

Passed Committee: Ways and Means on  ___________.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

$0 - $100,000.00 – FUNDING ONLY APPLIES IF OUTSOURCED