FOR THE COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 16, 2023
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
TO: City Council
FROM: City Manager
Prepared by: Chief Human Resources Officer
SUBJECT: Approving Salary Increase for Police Services Technician Job Classification and Adopting a Comprehensive Schematic Pay Schedule
Description:
The City Council will consider a salary increase to address compaction between the Police Services Technician classification and the Police Records career series, along with the updated associated Salary Schematic.
Environmental Notice: The activity is not a “Project” as defined under Section 15378 of the California Environmental Quality Act State Guidelines; therefore, pursuant to State Guidelines Section 15060(c)(3) no environmental review is required.
RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a Resolution approving a salary increase for the Police Services Technician job classification and adopting a comprehensive Schematic Pay Schedule for all full-time and part-time employees in accordance with CalPERS guidelines.
BACKGROUND:
This amendment addresses the need to eliminate compaction between Police Services Technician and the complete career series which includes Police Records Technician I, II, III, Police Records Technician – Detectives, and Senior Police Records Technician job classifications that were increased and approved at the March 7, 2023, City Council meeting. One of the most basic functions of business management is to establish a compensation scheme that is competitive and equitable and t hat promotes employee engagement and high performance.
Pursuant to the Santa Maria Municipal Code Section 2 -20.05, the attached salary schematic is set forth. Through the City Council’s goals and priorities, each classification is strategically focused to develop and retain a high performing and diverse workforce to foster a healthy, safe, and productive work environment for employees, departments, and the public. This will maximize individual and organizational potential and position the City of Santa Maria as an employer of choice.
2 DISCUSSION:
To this end, Human Resources has been engaged and successfully satisfied the meet - and-confer in compliance with the Meyers -Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) regarding the compensation for Police Services Technician job classification. Historically, there have been numerous employees who began a career as a Police Records Technician, and later promoted into the position of Police Services Technician. Maintaining this career path is an important part of providing growth op portunities for valued employees. These classified positions provide key critical support to the department, including, but not limited to, timely processing reports and evidence; timely addressing and processing of Municipal Code and California Vehicle Co de violations; and timely addressing public citizen inquiries. This salary increase will eliminate the compaction with Police Records career series.
Police Services Technician – Increase salary from a range of $2,202.50 - $2,677.15 to $2,315.25 - $2,814.20, resulting in a five (5) percent increase.
Salary Schematic Schedule
A Comprehensive Salary Schematic (“Schedule”) for the City of Santa Maria is created and presented in accordance with CalPERS regulations intended to ensure consistency when reporting compensation for City employees. The Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL) Government Code Section 20636(b)(1) requires pay amounts to be paid pursuant to publicly available pay schedules. The Schedule includes pay rate information for all full-time and part -time employees. The Schedule enhances the disclosure and transparency of public employee compensation by requiring that the pay rates be listed on a single-pay schedule as per CalPERS’ requirements.
CalPERS requires whenever there are changes to one or more pay rates, whether through the meet -and-confer process, employ ment contracts, new classifications, reclassifications, etc., the City is required to update the Schedule and present it to the City Council for review and approval. Any updates will include an effective date and date of any revisions and are to be retained by the City and available for public inspection for not less than five years. The Schedule (Attachment A) incorporates these changes. Upon adoption of the Resolution by the City Council, the Schedule will be posted on the City of Santa Maria’s website.
Alternative
If the recommended Resolution is not approved, the city will continue to operate with the existing Resolution.
Fiscal Considerations
The recommended annual salary increase is approximately $15,400 per year; however, the increase for the remainder of FY 2022-23 is less than $3,000. Due to salary savings, there is sufficient General Fund appropriations to absorb the additional cost in the Police Department budget. The recommendation to approve the newly established salary schematic is in conformance to Santa Maria Municipal Code Section.
3 Impact to the Community
Overall, City services will continue to be provided by City employees with no decrease in the level of service to the public. Instead, it is expected that there will be a positive impact and increase to current service levels to the public achieved by attraction and retention of talent management; increased employee job satisfaction; and increased performance to serve the community.
Attachment - Schematic Schedule of Salary Ranges