Monroe County Council getting early start on 2016 pay, benefits

April 30--Months before setting the county's budget for next year, Monroe County Council members are considering restructuring pay ranges and the benefits cost model for county employees.

The council on Tuesday approved paying a Muncie-based management and research consulting firm $16,800 to review compensation practices and conduct a salary analysis. The contract still must be approved by the Monroe County Board of Commissioners.

Nancy Panzarella, the county's human resources director, said Waggoner Irwin Scheele & Associates Inc. should complete its analysis in three or four months.

Because the last review was done in 2006, it would take the county a year to do that same study internally, she said.

Hiring an external firm not only saves time, it also ensures there is no perception of bias, she said. And WIS & Associates completed the last review of the county's compensation practices, meaning the firm will be able to use an identical process, she said.

Council member Geoff McKim said he thinks the county is "desperately in need" of an updated study to deal with two separate issues: the internal structure of the pay range and whether the range is still realistic for a given position, which "decays over time."

And council members said they want to make sure reviews happen more routinely moving forward.

The standard is to do a review every three years, and future studies can be completed internally, Panzarella said.

County council members also will move forward with a review of how they budget insurance.

The current budget doles money out to departments based on a percentage of employees' payroll, regardless of whether they elect to use the county's insurance and benefits plan, Panzarella said.

That has led to an inflated health reserve fund, she said.

Using a different cost model that budgets based on actual costs for those employees enrolled in the plan would be more fiscally responsible and better serve individual departments, she said.

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