The City of Great Bend dropped over $31,000 to have a firm from Kansas City conduct a compensation study on all city employees. The study found that there were employees, mostly firefighters, which needed their salary increased to meet the market minimum. The Great Bend City Council approved a motion to improve compensation issues starting January 1, 2019.
The study also showed Great Bend was behind other comparable-sized cities for vacation days and paid holidays. Human Resources Director Randy Keasling recommended the City Council pass increases to both vacation days and holiday days for city employees.
Councilmember Jolene Biggs was against the motion, stating there are issues with underfunded or not funded at all projects within the capital improvement plan.
Jolene Biggs Audio
Keasling says in an effort to make the City of Great Bend a “destination employer,” there needs to be steps taken to improve benefits to attract and retain workers.
At the end of August, Great Bend’s turnover rate was 14 percent. The turnover rate for the entire year of 2017 was 13 percent. Currently, 27 percent of the City’s workforce has reached the City recognized retirement age of 55 or over. Receiving pushback from a split City Council, Keasling stated the increased benefits are a piece to the puzzle to recruit and keep millennial-aged workers that value a work / personal life balance.
Randy Keasling Audio
The City Council voted 4-3 to approve the proposed vacation and holiday policies. (Dan Heath, Cory Urban, Joel Jackson, and Andrew Erb voted in favor of the increase. Biggs, Brock McPherson, and Vicki Berryman voted against the measure). It costs over $28,000 per day to fund the salaries for the more than 150 City employees.
City employees will now receive two additional paid holidays, taking their total from eight to 10. President’s Day and Christmas Eve were added. Barton County employees receive 11 paid holidays. The vacation accrual rate was also increased earlier in employees’ careers.