CLAYTON — St. Louis County Executive Sam Page is calling for county employee pay raises after a consultant said such a step is necessary to compete with the private sector.
The consultant analyzed regional market conditions to determine how much more St. Louis County needed to pay its personnel to compete with the private sector. Creve Coeur-based financial consulting firm CBIZ recommended the county increase pay by 1.2%.
The $437,000 study didn’t analyze pay raises for county department directors, but the county human resources department recommended giving them raises too.
Overall, the raises would cost about $2 million annually, Page said. He asked the County Council late last week to consider hiking county pay.
“We’re not going to be the highest-paying employer in town, but I want to be in the middle,” said Page, who earned $179,000 including benefits last year.
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Republican Councilman Mark Harder, of Ballwin, said it was obvious before the study that county employees needed a raise.
“I’m sure every pay study out there always recommends an increase. They never recommend a decrease,” said Harder, who earned $32,600 last year including benefits for his service on the council. “But we need to know what’s realistic, and see how far we are going to be out of sync with the private sector.”
He’s hopeful the study’s recommendations will help the county compete. But the real problem is finding money to pay for the raises, he said. The county faces a $34 million budget deficit this year.
“We need to look at all the things on the table at this point. I don’t know if we can afford a major pay raise across the board,” Harder said.
Page said the county is relying increasingly on staffing agencies to fill employment gaps. Pay raises will attract and keep employees in county government, saving on contracting costs, he said.
Page last week asked the council to approve a $900,000 contract with Clayton-based DCM Group for general maintenance of county buildings. That money would pay for the rest of this year, and the contract would cost $2.6 million next year.
Page also requested the council approve $90,000 to hire temporary employees from a staffing agency for the Kathy J. Weinman Shelter, a county-funded domestic violence shelter for women and their children.
The County Council and county Civil Service Commission would have to approve the raises.