Although the City of Great Bend is not entirely sure throwing an amount of money at the issue will solve everything, the City is hopeful one of the loudest displeasures among employees will be fixed come January 1, 2019. Compensation and compression issues were highlighted this summer during budget talks, especially compression within the Great Bend Fire Department.

Initial talks had the resolutions staged over multiple years, but Human Resources Director Randy Keasling mentioned at last month’s budget session that the problem should be a priority.

Randy Keasling Audio

The Council decided to use approximately $91,000 to bring all employees to the minimum of the pay range for the market and address the compression issues.

The compression issue came into the picture when newer and younger employees were hired within the Fire Department with higher compensation to bolster the understaffed department at the time. The gap between newer employees and veteran employees is getting smaller because of higher starting wages and promotions.

Eventually, the City will have to look into the retirement options for employees. Keasling says the City’s current ICMA retirement option is not close to other public sector plans.

Randy Keasling Audio

The cost of funding a Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) or KP&F would be significantly higher for the City of Great Bend.