Staff compensation a focus in town budget process
Town Council workshop offers preview of 2022-23 fiscal year
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
May 25, 2022
Employee compensation continued to emerge as a top priority for the 2022-23 fiscal year, following a May 19 special call meeting of the Black Mountain Town Council.
The workshop highlighted Town Manager Josh Harrold’s recommendations in the proposed budget, which will be presented at 8:30 a.m., Thursday, May 26. A public hearing and final approval of the document will be held before the current fiscal year ends, June 30.
Town council initially identified staff retention and compensation as key concerns during a strategic planning meeting at the Terry Estate Manor House in March, citing an increased workload related to growth and a desire to pay all full-time employees a living wage.
Harrold opened last week’s budget workshop by announcing he would recommend a 5.75% Cost-Of-Living Adjustment (COLA) increase for all employees in 2022-23. Town staff received a 3% cost-of-living adjustment in 2021-22.
“This accounts for a $250,000 increase in our budget,” he said. “It would put all full-time employees above $15 per hour.”
The recommendation, according to the town manager, is based on comparisons to other municipalities in Buncombe County.
“Biltmore Forest is at 6%, Weaverville does not do COLA, but they have a 7 % merit increase,” Harrold continued. “Buncombe County is at 4.69% for cost of living, while Asheville is at 5%.”
The COLA increases would precede a $10,000 compensation and classification study, scheduled to begin in August. The approximately three-month process, which reviews the town’s existing salary structure and those currently in place in similar municipalities in the region, will include strategies to allow Black Mountain to remain competitive in the hiring market.
“There is nothing more important to this council than this topic we’re talking about,” Mayor Larry Harris said. “As we all know, this labor situation we're in is not going to turn around; we have to stay in front of it.”
While COLA increases will address current salaries, the completion of the compensation and classification study is the first step in confronting a lingering problem, according to Councilmember Ryan Stone.
“This has been a decades-long issue and it’s not something that can be remedied in a single budget cycle,” he said. “We, as a society, have become accustomed to quick fixes, but that’s not something we’ll be able to do. This is going to take time, and it’s going to be a process.”
Harrold is proposing funding for a total of five new positions this year, with the addition of a project manager and second human resources employee in the administrative office and three additional officers in the police department.
Five new BMPD vehicles and body cameras will also be included in his budget recommendation, while $60,000 will be allocated to develop a new recreation and parks master plan.
The town manager will not recommend increasing the property tax rate in 2022-23, he told the town council, but balancing the budget will require appropriating money from the fund balance.
“Currently, I have us appropriating about $380,000 to balance this budget, but that’s just a number right now because hardly ever do your expenditures outweigh your revenues,” he said. “With that being said, let’s say we use $200,000 (to implement the pay study), then we’ll be appropriating nearly $600,000 to balance the budget.”
That is a move the town could potentially afford, the mayor responded.
“Implementing it would be a one-time cost,” Harris said. “We have the fund balance to address one-time expenditures, and that, to me, is notable.”