(May 15, 2015) With the 2016 budget up for final reading next week, it appears that Ocean City will be going forward with next year’s fiscal plan without a full reveal of the much-anticipated municipal pay study.
That plan, according to City Manager David Recor, will be ready for discussion by the city council in mid-to-late June.
Recor said a preliminary review of the data returned from the study’s consultant indicates that the city will already be addressing a sizable amount of the wage discrepancies identified. The budget, which will likely be passed next week, includes a two percent cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for all fulltime and some part-time positions.
“We have an estimated cost of how much it will take to implement the salary and benefits plan,” Recor said. “It looks like about 35 percent of the cost of implementing the new salary study will be included as part of the overall COLA that is currently planned.”
The 2-percent adjustment is worth approximately $670,000 in salary and benefits per year. Since the adjustment is not scheduled to go into effect until Jan. 1, 2016 – halfway through the July-to-June budget year – the increase on the coming budget is only $335,000, according to city Budget Manager Jennie Knapp.
The remaining cost for putting the new salary tables into place would be marginal, Recor said.
He and city Human Resources Director Wayne Evans are currently putting the raw data analysis from the consultant into a coherent plan for presentation to the council. The study was commissioned from Management Advisory Group International, Inc.
“They provided us with some options that were not in the scope of services,” Recor said. “We are working to refine the various pieces into a concrete recommendation for council.”
