Traverse City Record-Eagle

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June 3, 2010

Experts: $190,000 wage study is flawed

BY SHERI McWHIRTER smcwhirter@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse County taxpayers paid $190,000 for a seriously flawed wage and benefits study, independent experts said.

The board ordered a study in 2007 to be crafted by The Segal Company. It was meant to outline new job classifications for more than 500 county employees, and to compare their wages and benefits to similar organizations.

But Segal used an incorrect methodology for wage comparisons, a committee of local human resources experts from public and private institutions found.

The Segal study called for raises from $5,000 up to $40,000 per-year for some department heads and managers, while hourly employees would see increases around $1,000 or less.

Parts of the study are useful, including updated job descriptions and hierarchy for job titles throughout county departments, local experts said, but that's not worth the $190,000 price tag, said county Commissioner Ross Richardson.

"Certainly part of it is down the drain," he said. "We're always spending money on studies and to taxpayers, it looks like a lot. I'm sure they wonder whether the studies are ever used for anything."

Commissioner Christine Maxbauer long criticized the study and said the review confirmed her concerns.

"As a taxpayer, I'm not happy with the expense," she said. "When you have 150 people applying for one job, you don't need a wage and benefit study. We do not have a high turnover rate in the county. Clearly, we're paying well."

Commissioner Addison Wheelock Jr. advocated for the wage study and pushed to implement Segal's recommendations. He's read the independent report but declined to discuss it until he reviews comments made on the topic during a Wednesday county meeting he didn't attend.

Mary Feldman, Segal's public affairs director, declined to comment.

Cathy Jones, vice president for finance and administration at Traverse City's Northwestern Michigan College, served as chairwoman on the review committee.

"(The study) gave them some very good starting points," she said. "They were hoping for a lot more."

Segal incorrectly calculated wage comparisons, Jones said, but job description and hierarchy information are beneficial.

County Administrator Dennis Aloia said he doesn't disagree with the review committee's criticisms and expects the public to be justifiably concerned.

"We had to do a study, but we tried to be non-traditional in how we looked at it. It may not have created the best outcome," he said.

Aloia said it's unrealistic to lump all employees together to compare as one market, but that's what the study attempted. Independent experts recommend county employees be divided into four groups for managers, law enforcement, court and all others and then be compared to Midwestern, state, court and local markets, respectively.

That could lead to difficulty in collective bargaining if one employee group receives a larger pay raise than others, Aloia said.

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