County council members get raise, no benefits
by Steve Kadel
staff writer
Nov 29, 2012 | 2156 views | 0 0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Grand County Council members will receive a small salary increase beginning next year, but they won’t get a county benefits package.

The council voted during its Nov. 20 meeting to approve a $423 per-year salary boost beginning Jan. 1. That will bring members’ annual salary to $8,823.

However, a related agenda item that would have given full county benefits to council members died for lack of a motion, chairman Gene Ciarus said. County Attorney Andrew Fitzgerald advised the council that benefits are not available under the county’s current form of government, Ciarus said.

He added that council members knew the benefit idea wouldn’t pass a vote if one were held. It was discussed only because Grand County Human Resources Director Orlinda Robertson had done research on the issue along with other county employee compensation research, Ciarus said.

“We had to respect the work she had done,” he said. “It was all part of the process and months of work Orlinda put in on it.”

The research covered various county employee positions that were believed to be out of alignment compared to similar jobs in other county governments.

Salaries for some county positions were increased in late May, Robertson said. Those included maintenance workers, the airport manager, the community development director, the Grand Center program manager, the Old Spanish Trail Arena manager, the Moab Area Travel Council’s administrative assistance, the chief building official and Building Department employees, Road Department mechanics and equipment operators, the Sand Flats program manager and Weed Department manager.

The total cost of those salary increases from May 28 through the end of December will be $61,889.65, Robertson said. That money will come from the county’s general fund or from individual department budgets, she said.

The council approved other salary increases Nov. 20 to make those positions comparable to similar jobs in other counties.

The jobs that were affected include four library assistants and seven technicians, the latter reclassified to library clerk status, and some library substitutes who are considered clerks. Also upgraded were two OSTA maintenance workers, reclassified as maintenance technicians, moving them from grade six to grade nine on the pay scale, Robertson said.

The changes approved Nov. 20 will be retroactive to May 28 and will cost a total of $20,615, she said.
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