Wage study: County’s pay not up to par

Published 4:35 pm Tuesday, June 17, 2025

SOUTH BEND — An extensive wage study evaluating all Pacific County departments and offices, except for the sheriff’s office, has been completed.

The county awarded a contract for a wage study to JB Reward Systems on May 28, 2024, for a four-phase process with a cost of $33,600. The study was initially anticipated to be completed by Jan. 1 and later was pushed out to no later than June 30.

The study’s findings were formally presented to the Pacific County Commission on June 10. The preliminary results released earlier this year have already prompted the county to take immediate action to increase wages for multiple unions.

According to the study, the county is suggested to increase salaries for employees in Steps 1-7 by 3.5%, Steps 8-10 by 2.5%, and Steps 11-13 by 1.5% for all non-represented and represented positions, “with the understanding that minor variations may occur by way of the contractual processes.”

Below others

“Pacific County pays its staff noticeably below competitive trends,” the study notes. “Salary ranges, when compared to competitive trends, are at about 33rd to 38th percentile among regional competitors. On average, salaries for virtually all occupations are at about the 37th percentile to 41st to competitive percentile.

Municipalities within a “reasonable region” — particularly in south and central Washington and north and central Oregon — were used to make the assessments, with a focus on municipalities that have a similar scope of services, organization, competitive task and cost-of-living.

“Administratively speaking, the county could benefit from using the modern job measurement/evaluation system. This should further enhance the decision-making process and salary range alignments, giving it assurance of preserving internal equity and advanced decision support capability to handle emerging job design and alignment needs. This is important because salary data and job design matches smaller municipalities is a challenge, leading to suboptimal pay decisions,” the study adds.

The study also highlighted the level of high turnover, a noticeable trend among the county departments. The average time in a county position is poor. As long-time employees retire, those moving in aren’t sticking around — as can be seen in the bi-weekly county commission meetings, including two positions from the Department of Public Works during the most recent June 10 meeting.

“The average county employee appears to have below median length of services (5.5 years compared to 10 years elsewhere) than competing organizations,” the study notes. “Why is this important? It confirms the recruiting rate and retention issue. It implies that employees may not be advancing through the salary ranges, albeit that individual recognition from annual adjustments. It also implies that range may be non-competitive, commutes [are] too far, availability of acceptable housing, or a myriad of other factors.”

Wages, retention

The commission accepted a new salary grade scale from JB Reward Systems, and the new salary grade system ranges from grade 105 to 137, comprising 13 steps with wages varying from $35,859 to $200,699. Management-level positions begin at grade 125, and the current highest-graded employee at the county is in grade 135, which spans from Step 1 at $130,083 to Step 13 at $180,066.

The study includes a suggestion that the county evaluates “employee engagement” to find ways it can develop employees through a ladder system.

“Currently, the county has a substantial [number] of long-term employees with greater than 25 years of service in key jobs,” the study notes. “Moving forward with career ladders may help to retain important institutional knowledge. Other interventions such as lump sum awards for accomplishing certain milestones, recognition programs, and remote training opportunities may also help.”

Unions, including corrections officers at the Pacific County Jail Services and dispatchers at the Pacific County 911 Communications Center, have apparently been offered salary increases outside of collective bargaining.

The county offered a 2.5% increase across the board via step increases under the new salary scale retroactive to Jan. 1. The increases are anticipated to be factored into payroll by Aug. 31. Employees are also being provided with an 80/20 split of non-employee medical coverage, meaning employees only have to pay 20% of the premiums for family members.

Those unions all accepted the offers.

Deputies at the sheriff’s office are still without a contract. Their contract ran out on Dec. 31, 2024, and they haven’t engaged in negotiations with the county since Dec. 13, 2024, when the county submitted an offer.

Plakinger

County Chief Administrative Officer Paul Plakinger was one of the key negotiators in the process and, because of his involvement, has chosen not to accept a step increase in 2025. He will not take any increase until Jan. 1, 2026, to the step he could have had retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year.

“I felt it was the right thing to do,” Plakinger said.