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Staff salaries take budget hit again
All over Fairfax County, programs and services are feeling the burden of a tight budget year. It's a big adjustment, but for Fairfax County employees, being squeezed by the budget is nothing new.“Our employees' morale is horrible; we have a horrible reputation,” said Supervisor Mike Frey (R-Sully).
The advocate for Fairfax County's employees, the Fairfax County Employee Advisory Council, agrees.
“[The Board of Supervisors] is using us as a tool to balance the budget. ... No one believes this is a system to reward employees anymore,” said Randy Creller, the council's vice chair.
Frey and Creller were referring to the county's pay for performance system, designed to reward employees based on evaluations of their performance during the year. Under the system, each employee is assigned a numerical score, and yearly raises are given out based on that score.
This year's proposed budget halves the percentage raises that would be granted under this system, affecting salaries for all county employees except public safety. It's not a new phenomenon in Fairfax.
“Six of the last eight years they've changed the numbers on us,” Creller said. By repeatedly adjusting the rewards for high performance downward, the board has effectively removed the incentives that are the whole point of such a system, he said.
“We have not upheld our part of the bargain,” Frey said.
According to Anita Baker, chair of the Employee Advisory Council, it would cost just over $12 million to pay the employees at the rates the board promised last year and fix the market rate adjustment to the pay scale. Each year, the pay scale is increased to reflect inflation. However, current employees never see that increase and, under the current numbers, new hires can make more money than longtime employees.
“These aren't just one-time cuts. This can affect our retirements,” Baker said. Retirement plans for county employees are calculated using their potential earnings, numbers that keep dropping as the board adjusts salary formulas, according to Baker.
Dranesville Supervisor John Foust (D) says that flexibility in the way employees are paid is essential.
“They want us to be a little more rigid year after year, but I'm not sure that you can give up the flexibility. ... Adjusting it should be the exception, not the rule,” Foust said.
“It is increasingly evident that making it easy to adjust those numbers was the real reason behind going to this system,” Baker said.
email the reporter at mtayloe@timespapers.com
I am glad that certain supervisors agree but it seems that most of the board could care less. Fairfax County has a good reputation for how it is run only because of the employees who keep it running. Are they ever going to realize that and start appreciating us? I bust my butt everyday and commute from Fredericksburg. I am completely broke right now and can barely make ends meet. Every month I wonder if my family will be able to get enough food because of the rising gas prices, health care, rising prices of groceries, etc. Now, I have nothing in the future that holds promise. Yeah, that will effect my morale. I have a good job and yet, look at the state I'm in. It should not be this way.
Posted by keljpvs
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This is one of many reasons I left the County after 8 years of service. When revenue drops substantially like this year (and in the early 90's), the employees are asked to take the hit financially. I gave up a couple of pay raises in the early 90's when the County froze merit increments and despite an increase in revenue before I left, I was never compensated retroactively when things improved. The County is broken with regard to compensation. Pay for performance is a nice thought but I am not convinced the culture of the workforce or management can properly execute it. The County workforce is destined to ride this roller coaster and I wonder if senior management and the Board rides the same compensation coaster? Probably not. The net result is a demoralized workforce that will be asked to do more work (the County probably is allowing vacancies to stay open) and now for less pay than they had anticipated. While there are no guarantees in the private sector when it comes to compensation, I found the model and execution far superior to any government agency.
Posted by xcounty
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