The subject of city employee pay raises has come up the last couple of weeks at multiple Indianola board meetings.
Some might be naturally inclined to object to departmental raises as water leaks go unchecked and streets continue to deteriorate.
But if the city is going to raise its standard of work, it stands to reason that it must raise its standard of wages.
We’re not inclined to agree with the notion that workers who have been on the job longer should automatically be paid more.
The process needs to be more thoughtful than that.
Minimum wage economics in departments like public works is not conducive to creating a positive work culture or recruiting highly-skilled labor.
We have and will continue to advocate for a certification system at the city’s public works department.
It would not be difficult to write classes that would be required for certain certifications that would be tied to pay at public works and other city departments.
Just as our firemen and policemen achieve certifications through continuing education, public works employees could do the same and receive higher wages for graduating these classes and achieving higher levels of certification.
Let’s say the city hires a new public works employee. At the minimum, this person joins as a Public Works Generalist at $10.50 an hour, hypothetically. This person is required to complete a basic public works certification class within six months of being hired. If this is not done, the person is terminated, just as the city can terminate a fireman who has not completed the fire academy within a year of employment.
Once the first level of certification is reached, however, the employee could be moved to $11 an hour.
All employees who have served for one year and have completed the first certification will then be allowed to take classes on a variety of skills, such as plumbing, street repair, heavy equipment etc. Each certification could bring a $1 an hour raise, capped at $20 an hour.
For those who might panic at the sticker shock of $20 an hour, bear in mind that these classes should not be easy to master, and the certifications must be earned through rigorous work and skills development.
This kind of system should have two effects.
First, raising the earning potential of employees will raise the city’s buying power when it comes to recruiting good labor for its departments.
Second, raising the median wage, instead of the minimum wage, will attract a better employee pool that will in turn show up for work at 8 a.m., work until closing time, will be less likely to steal time and materials, and most importantly, get things done.
A little over a week ago, a department head was advocating a raise for one of his employees who had been on the job for more than a decade. Apparently, he was making close to the same as the guy who just started.
That can’t be the basis for a raise, though.
“Just hang around long enough, and we’ll throw another dollar an hour at you in 10 years” is absurd.
That doesn’t make sense for the city, the taxpayers or the employee who has been there longest.
The city should reward the employees who accumulate the most skills and put those skills to work for the betterment of our town.
This structure would not be popular with some at first, but it could work across all departments.
Tossing a dollar an hour more to city employees might be good political fodder, but it insults the best and the brightest and rewards the ones who do the least.
