By Thomas J. McKillen
Managing Editor

The consultant for a pay study of Washington County employees will have limits of what he will and won’t recommend.
The upcoming pay plan will be the third conducted by Charles Carlson. During a presentation to the County Board, he  said that this study will be different in that he will be allowed to compare the pay of  county employees with the private sector, which previously wasn’t allowed under state law. In addition, the study will apply to all county employees.
“We now have an opportunity to look at the entire world that we work in. The problem is now we have to figure out how to do that. What this study is about is figuring out how to do that and report back to you,” Carlson said.
He later explained that for the past 35 years, the pay policy for local government was subject to collective bargaining requirements.
“This change in state law (through the state budget bill) has just ripped that all up — and now we have to figure out what to do,” Carlson said.
With collective bargaining not driving compensation, Carlson said “life just go ta lot tougher” because performance management has to be implemented and the county will have to be more rigorous in its recruitment of employees.
Carlson described the pay study as an audit of an estimated $50 million payroll.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s all on the table,” Carlson said.
He indicated that the study will be completed by March or May.
According to Carlson, the county has 750 employees in more than 200 job classifications. Carlson said he will be working with human resources to develop a “total compensation methodology,” which he said has not been communicated to the public in the past. Also, every employee has been asked to complete a job description questionnaire summarizing what they do in their positions. 
Carlson said he will be talking with the county Policy Committee to determine the county’s desired position in the marketplace. That process will include determining the market, how the county hires employees and where county employees are employed after they step down from county work.
Carlson noted that in the past the county has hired at the bottom and promoted up due to seniority requirements. However, changes in state law allow local government to go outside at any time to fill positions. Carlson said an increasing retirement of public employees will also be addressed.
“We look at these employment patterns and decide what is the appropriate marketplace. It’s not an academic exercise, it’s a real world exercise in terms of where you get people from, where you lose them to,” Carlson said.
Carlson said he will not do a “dollar for dollar” analysis of the county’s benefit program but rather look at the total cost.  Also, he said “a major portion of the study” will examine overtime policies.
Carlson said the study will not recommend how many employees should there be. He also said that while the study could recommend pay freezes, he will not recommend pay reductions.
“That’s a no sale,” he said.