Plenty of Great Bend Fire Department employees filled up the seating at Monday’s special Great Bend City Council meeting regarding information from a compensation study report. Arthur Gallagher, a firm out of Kansas City, conducted the study on the pay rates and management structure for the City of Great Bend.

Gail Meriweather with Gallagher said although there were a few areas that the pay rate was lower than the relevant labor market, Great Bend was close to the average.

Gail Meriweather Audio

The City’s average compa-ratio for base salaries is approximately 95 percent, indicating that the City is paying its associates fairly consistently with the external market. A compa-ratio of 100 percent means that, on average, employees are paid equal to the market midpoint. Meriweather mentioned these numbers do not include uniformed police or fire department workers.

The Gallagher recommendation was to allocate enough money to bring all employees to the minimum salary range for the respective position.

Captain Kevin Stansfield with the Fire Department questioned that method, stating that his 19 years with the department and last eight as Captain could be lumped into the same comparative salary bracket as an employee that was just promoted.

Kevin Stansfield Audio

Human Resources Director Randy Keasling noted a lot of the frustration with Fire Department employees over the past few years has been a compression issue. The starting wage for entry level firemen and firewomen has gone up over the years to attract candidates to the department, but wages for more veteran employees has stayed the same outside of their yearly raises. The gap between rookie employees and veteran employees is getting smaller.

For those employees who are paid below the minimum of the salary range, the cost to bring those employees up to the minimum of the range is approximately $8,432. The cost to add to uniformed police is $5,705.60 and $24,692 for fire.

Interim City Administrator George Kolb felt that a new system of basing raises on merit and performance would eventually take care of the issue.

George Kolb Audio

Meriweather also noted the City is behind on vacation hours for veteran employees and could stand to add more paid holidays off.

No action was taken on the informational item Monday. Kolb and Keasling noted they will need to talk with staff in determining how much money they will allocate to bring certain employees up in the pay range and how to set a policy in determining raises going forward.

The City hired Arthur Gallagher for $31,725 to conduct the study, money coming from various departments that are affected by the results.