The City of Owensboro is looking at raising city employee wages — especially within the police and fire departments — to be more competitive so they can retain and recruit more people.
City Manager Nate Pagan said Tuesday that a compensation study was completed and showed Owensboro’s wages were falling behind other neighboring cities.
“This study gets us to market, to a large degree,” Pagan said.
He added that it’s important to keep their annual market rate cost of living adjustment (COLA) on par with other cities, because “if we get to a point where we’re giving smaller COLAs every year like we’ve done in the past to some degree, that’s how we could fall behind in the future.”
Pagan also noted that the wages they are considering for the police and fire departments are in some cases substantially higher than nearby cities such as Henderson and Bowling Green.
The plan will be revisited every 3 years to ensure the City’s wages remain competitive in the market.
“The original intent was to retain our current employees, but then help us recruit new employees as well, so this does make us more competitive at this point,” Pagan said.
Regarding retirement plans, Pagan said that while the City of Owensboro’s plan pays out 6% lower than the average of all six cities in the study (though Owensboro’s is not the lowest payout of the six).
The next steps will be for Pagan and City HR Manager Josh Bachmeier to present the proposed adjustments to the employees.
If approved, the plan would not go in effect until June 1, 2023, the start of the new fiscal year. There would also still be the annual cost of living adjustments that would go in effect July 1.
“From a financial perspective, we feel the recommendation that [is being brought forth] is something we can afford from a long-term affordability or financial sustainability perspective as well,” Pagan said.
He said this could all be done without raising taxes as well.
Director of Financial Support Services Angela Waninger said in preparation for the meeting she looked at the long-range plan for the City, which she said looks like it’s in a safe space to complete the plans. The transient room tax that was passed in August also has been a benefit to the income stream, according to Waninger.
“Thankfully, we are quite stable,” she said. “Our revenue stream is stable and growing and keeping up.”
