Travis County Commissioners Court
Public Hearing
June 18, 2008
From 4:44 pm to 5:03 pm this meeting was not captioned, therefore the text of the meeting discussion does not pick up until 5:03pm.
>> there are people who come in that I have trained that make more money than me.
that is not acceptable.
and we're tired of having to deal with this every single day, day in and day out, you know, and like I said, I love my job.
I love my job so much that I -- and I'm so dedicated to this agency that I even have gone back to school and got -- and am working on my criminal justice degree through the university of Texas.
I'm a senior this year.
I have three children.
they're 2, 8 and 12, and I'm a full-time working mom, you know so if you want to have the quality of people represent you and your agency, then you need to keep us, and you need to pay for us.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
>> sonia villareal.
>> I'm sorry?
>> sonia, please come forward, and mr. Garcia is next.
>> ladies and gentlemen, my name is fred steer.
I have a master's degree and have had --
>> is mr. Garcia here?
>> I'm right here.
>> six years --
>> mr. Garcia is next, then.
>> oh, all right.
I'm sorry.
>> I don't have much to do except preside over this.
mr. Garcia.
>> Commissioners, judge brings come, thanks for opportunity for providing this forum for all of us to come and voice our opinions and our wants and needs and also to identify certain things that you-all do so well and an opportunity to tell you thank you.
we don't get to see you often enough sometimes, and we don't get to thank you for the benefit packages that you-all put together for us, and approve.
it's not so much that -- without you approving it we wouldn't have them.
the pay incentives as well sometimes, but there are concerns that all of us have that there's no other way to get to see or say anything to you guys except through this means once a year, and we thank you for that opportunity.
I'd like to start off with something joelle touched on earlier.
I understand that they're going to do the market survey on fleet in '09, but I just hope and pray that it's not the same type of server that they did this last go-round where they gave us a tiger promotion that has no teeth.
it's a fantastic way of saying you got promoted.
you were a 14, now you're a 15.
the mechanics were 12's, they became 13, but their pay, because we were only talking about one pay range, the pay for the 12 was already -- even it was at the entry level of a 13, oh, congratulations, we don't have to pay you.
that was really great.
and I want you to know that that not only was not fair, they just kind of put it off for the next time around for your macialght t survey.
I had two people out of fleet that actually were not at the entry level of a grade 13.
those were the only two people that got a pay increase out of all the people in fleet.
everybody else got their fantastic tiger promotion.
they got it on paper but it meant nothing and you got nothing.
okay.
that's the way it goes.
I'm still here.
I've been with you going on eight years, it will be July 15.
I like what I do.
I enjoy what I do, and if you ask a lot of people, it doesn't matter what department we service or we take care of, they'll tell you, ed likes what he does, and I absolutely do.
I care more about my people than I worry about myself.
I thank you for the insurance packages that you give us, that you-all provide for a lot of my folks, like some of you-all.
it's very expensive, everybody admits, medical care is probably the best benefit and the most valuable benefit we all have.
some of the things that I deal with, the mechanics that I have also deal with, are the new equipment and new vehicles.
overall the numbers continue to increase.
I understand we're a growing county.
I understand costs continue to escalate.
you-all have a limited amount of money to deal with, but the complexity of the equipment also continues to grow.
you see equipment now that has no steering wheel as you would recognize it in a car.
we have equipment that it has to be in certain positions, you have to have certain training or you can't even start it.
some of this equipment exceeds $250,000 per piece of equipment.
if you don't know what you're doing you just ruin a $15,000 computer.
all this requires additional training.
parks department is getting bigger and bigger.
every lawn mower that they get for the most part, most of us could think of a lawn mower as a push mother or a little bitty push mower.
start thinking in your mother at a mother valued at $50,000 and think about what you're doing when you go to service that thing and you don't service it right or you put the wrong fluid in it, ask the department what it costs.
the nominal costs are no longer the same.
you as a court are approving the money to make all these repairs.
the numbers continue to grow.
the jail is growing.
you yourself, the court has approved the new buses, the new van, the new type of equipment.
you get to see it, firsthand.
all this equipment is no longer the same stuff that we used to work on like some of you guys might remember some of the older vehicles.
you go get a tune-up.
who ever heard of a 5000 something dollar tune-up on a car or a truck.
that's what it costs you now for a pickup, one of these new fords.
all I'm telling you, it's costing more money, we need to set aside more money for training these mechanics to make sure that each one of us as taxpayers are not using the guess method to make these repairs.
we used the correct diagnostic skills, the correct training for these mechanics, and most of all some type of incentive program to get them to do the sae certification program, and perhaps reward them.
I'm not telling you what you're going to have to do.
I'm just asking and bringing this to your attention.
there's things that I see that we're not meeting as supervisors.
the strongest tool sales pitch that I have when we try to hire people.
we have vacancies that have been vacant for 8 months in heavy equipment.
we're competing with people who are paying -- the local economy, they have incentive programs, but it's all money and no tangible benefits as we have.
most of the people that are with us are here for two reasons, mostly.
the benefits the county provides are fantastic.
the lifestyle that you get to spend more time at home, because a lot of the employees that work in fleet get off at 3:30.
that is a value that I don't know, maybe many people can't appreciate.
but to get off at 3:30 in the afternoon and have additional time to spend with your wife and your children, grandchildren, what have you, that has a dollar value a lot of people can't compare.
so that's one of two primary selling reasons that we are able to keep some people in fleet.
what I can't compete with is, as everybody is going to tell you today, is the cost of living, the fuel, the groceries.
I understand all that -- everybody -- fleet is not immune.
you're not either.
you're all paying more for everything else.
I understand that.
but some of these other points.
the jail is getting bigger.
we either need some more mechanics, we need some more training.
I don't know the key to everything.
I don't know everything, but I do know that when certain pieces of a yard are, how can you say -- I don't want to say it wrong, but are recognized for being below market or what have you and you leave out parts of it, it creates tension, friction, if you will, and it just kind of hurts the team spirit.
I'm not -- I'm human just like you-all are too.
but if we give judge Gomez, I don't know, 10% increase and we don't give judge Davis --
>> ms. Gomez.
>> Commissioner Gomez.
we give her a 10% pay increase, we forget about -- or we tell Commissioner Davis, you're just justgoing to have to wait.
it's kind of tough.
that's why I say, how does the judge address this.
probably the same way I did this morning.
we have a job today and I'm going to address it another way later.
bring your concerns, write them down.
I'll get them to the right people.
and that's pretty much what we're doing.
so these are concerns not just gathered, mine, personal, but some of the ones that have been shared by each and every one of the guys in blue shirts behind me tonight.
so I do want to thank you for all that you guys do, each and every one of you for all of us, not just in fleet but county-wide, but also to ask you to please keep in mind, every time we acquire more vehicles, more equipment and the more technology that comes across, it also becomes more expensive to hire qualified people to fill the position.
so we're looking for people that can use computers, people with diagnostic skills.
we're looking for people who have licenses to do state inspections.
I know we're an opportunity employer.
unfortunately hands are tied because the state prevents us from getting a license if you've got a felony or any type of probation.
so we're nailed to the cross.
so these things are kept in mind and I know that drives the cost of doing business, however -- we can only look for you guys to help us out in that area.
my boss, regardless, a lot of folks can beat up on my supervisor, he but he doesn't control salaries.
he can dictate what your buddies can do or drive us to get more work done or pressure or push us but he can't change the things that the state regulates.
so I ask you-all to help us with that, and I thank you for that opportunity to listen to me and let me share my concerns with you.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
>> thank you for your patience.
>> thank you, judge.
appreciate it.
just wanted to say that I -- my department is very dedicated also.
I work out at del valle, and since Austin state hospital is closing so many beds, we're turning into the county mental health hospital, and I'm sure you-all are aware of that.
we all are very, very busy and all virginia dedicated to what we -- all very dedicated to what we do.
I personally have a master's degree and have a little over six years tenure with the sheriff's department.
again, just like everybody else, we're asking some help since the cost of living is increasing daily, seems like.
we, I believe, had a market survey done last year, and we did get something out of it, which is very appreciated by us.
if, on the other hand, we are, as a department, 14%, say, under the market pay scale, just simply asking for some help with the cost of living and gasoline and everything going up.
okay?
just want to let you know, I am very appreciative of the benefits package that you-all provide and have approved of.
it has helped me out personally very much, and really, quite honestly, it's going to be short and sweet.
I again appreciate you listening to us, all of us, and that's it.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
>> and get you some company.
adam sad lerler?
zeigler?
french mcaufish?
>> good afternoon, judge business come and Commissioners.
first I'd like to apologize for my attire this afternoon.
I wish I were --
>> I did the Juneteenth celebration so I came directly from there.
>> you look great.
>> I'm sonia villareal and I work with the victim services division in the Travis County sheriff's office.
what I wanted to speak with you about today is the compensation, not only for our victim services counselors, but also for our bilingual counselors, that I feel are not being compensated for the skills that they bring to this job.
in order to get my point across I would like to give you a little bit of an idea what it is that we do.
though most people know what victim services is and does, I don't think a lot of people have the understanding of the complexities of the job that we do.
there are other positions in the county that fall under the victim witness or victim counselor or counselor umbrella, and we, I believe, are paid below what those positions are being paid, even though our position requires us to be on call.
when I say on call, there are some jobs on call that you could be on call for a month and maybe you get called out once in a while.
when it comes to victim services when we say on call, we mean on call.
we are on call usually for a 24-hour period at a time, on an average of one -- or an average of two to three days per week.
so that is 24 hours a day, okay?
while we still maintain our normal office job, we work ten hour shifts for the most part, we're still required to be on call during off duty hours through the night.
our department has six counselors to service the entire county of travis, and everyone in this room knows exactly how big Travis County is.
when we are on call many times we are responsible for providing crisis intervention services to everyone in the county, whether it's northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast.
we do have a pool of volunteers that assist us in this endeavor.
however, with the prices of gas and everything else, their participation in a what we do is very limited.
we luckily -- I have been fortunate enough to be able to pay them for mileage through other victim services contingency fund, but as we all know monies disappear very quickly, especially at this rate, and we don't know how much longer we'll be able to pay our volunteers for mileage, so if that goes away, so will our volunteer participation for the most part.
as I said, we do -- we have six counselors in our department.
i, along with one other counselor, are the only spanish speakers on staff.
of the six years I've been with the Travis County sheriff's office approximately four of those years I was the only spanish speaker on staff, which means to people outside of this division that if I'm doing my two to three days on call for that week, I'm also getting called on the days when I'm not on call.
all hours of the day and night, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning, taking away if my home and my kids, to provide these services to these people in the community.
I am a strong and firm believer that we must provide the same amount of services to those who do not speak spanish -- or spanish english to those who do.
some people say you can refuse.
you can refuse to do -- or to go out when you're not on call, which for myself, this is a personal choice, that is not an option.
that is not an option for me.
I have made a commitment to not only do my job to the best of my ability but to also provide services to those folks, like myself, that are hispanic and that cannot speak the language.
I have to put myself in a position where if I have to go notify someone that their husband has just been killed out on the roadway and they do not speak english, I have to make the choice of whether I go, whether I'm on call or not, or do I let a medical examiner make this notification over the phone or do I let a police officer go in person and make a notification and not be able to deal with the crisis intervention aspect of that job, okay?
so my choice is always going to be to go.
I'm not going to say no unless I am at a point where it's unsafe for me to drive or I am just not available for whatever reason, I'm going to go and do this call.
and as I said, there is another person on staff with us currently that is a spanish speaker, and it's very difficult when you have law enforcement officers who are getting paid a stipend or who are being compensated for their bilingual services, that services that they are providing while they're on the clock, they're doing their ten-hour shift out on the streets and they're providing the service, and that's a wonderful thing.
and they should be compensated.
but when you're getting called from home at all hours of the day and night when you're not on duty and you're not being compensated for it, it's very, very frustrating, very frustrating.
I have transformed translation services.
I am certified as an interpreter, and even with that I have never been -- nor have I asked for compensation, but it's gotten to the point where I feel that in order to be equitable, we need to be compensated for our skills, just as someone would be compensated for being a sign language interpreter, I feel that I should be compensated for my spanish-speaking skills and my translation skills.
so I come to you today, having gone through two market studies during my tenure with the county.
the first go-round we were found to be one group below market.
the second time we were found to be two groups below market.
we have yet to get to market at this point.
and when police -- when certified peace officers got that pay increase, which I was very in favor of because they have a very difficult job, I do believe that civilians need to be given the same consideration as police officers do.
as far as victim services is concerned, we are out there on the crime scenes, we are out there in dangerous situations, all hours of the day and night on very dark and scary county roads, and we don't have a gun on our hip.
so I ask that you consider this as far as victim services is concerned, as far as bilingual pay is concerned.
I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak and to bring these views up, and I hope that I can continue in my job as a victim counselor with equitable compensation.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
>> did we get gabriella torres?
>> judge, one moment.
just to answer your question directly, sonia, I believe that we have that issue on our -- on our list of issues to consider this time around.
so --
>> adding a bilingual stipend?
>>
>> [inaudible] will be in the package that we bring to you the next time we're before you with all the compensation items. We recognize the issues that you have raised and we as an hr department acknowledge the need and we'll be recommending to the court that they consider some form of supplement.
>> thank you.
>> one other thing that I would mention in response to an issue that you raised, we do have an on-call call-back policy, that as you were expressing your work activities, you may want to connect with your hr operation to fully review that particular policy and how it applies to your workload and how you've been compensated for that.
okay?
>> thank you.
>> sure.
>> yes, thank you, judge and Commissioners.
I haven't been with -- I'm with the Travis County sheriff's office.
I'm one of the mental health counselors in the jail that we have here, and a lot of times I get you know what exactly is it that you do?
I work alongside with the officers every day dealing with anyone who's been arrested in the county, by any of the agencies.
that's Austin police department, any of the smaller police departments and our county sheriff's office.
anyone that gets arrested comes through our jail and ends up meeting with one of us, who then does various forms of crisis, deals with that situation there, both making sure that they stay safe and that they leave jail whenever their time is done once they go through the court system.
I'm fairly new to the department.
I'm like some of the -- unlike some of the people that have spoken before me.
I've only been with the department 18 months, and what's sad to me is if I hired on now versus 18 months ago I'd be making a considerable amount of money more, more than I do now.
when I hired on I was hired on at the base of the pay scale, so when the market study was done I was fortunate enough that I got green circled.
in my department I was one of two people.
I got bumped up a fair amount.
my partner at the time only got bumped up a few hundred.
the rest of the employees that I work with on a daily basis got just the 1 1/2% because they were already well above the minimum of the new pay raise.
since being with the county, I have a master degree -- I came with the county bachelor's degree, both in social work and since being with the county I became licensed in the state of Texas as a social worker and I was not compensated for that at all.
despite that being one of the things that you prefer to have in the position that I'm in.
and on top of that when I was asked to come to the county, I was asked if I would be willing to work a different shift, working 3:00 to 11:00, working holidays, working weekends, which I agreed to do.
I was also told that as part of the treatment staff I'd be receiving the same compensation for those shifts as the other treatment staff.
currently that's not what's in place.
currently I'm not receiving the same compensation as the rest of them.
I get a 5% differential whereas the rest of the treatment staff get --
>>
>> [inaudible].
>> I get 5%, and the rest of the treatment staff in the jail receive 15%.
>> 15%?
>> uh-huh.
so currently given that and the market study with the 9% that were missing, I'm being paid 19% below what I should be being paid, not what I've asked to be paid but what I was told I would be getting paid.
and for me dealing in the situations that I deal with, that's very frustrating knowing that I'm getting paid almost 20% less and dealing in a hazardous environment that I deal with.
in the 18 months I've been assaulted at the jail.
I've been swung at multiple times at the jail, and I deal with people the same way that the officers do, side by side with them.
so it's very frustrating to me as a new employee wanting to start and remain in Texas, to want to stay somewhere that acknowledges they are paying me 20% below what they said they were going to do.
and so I just urge you to fully fund the market studies that were completed last year for all the dements, not just the sheriffs office but everywhere else as well.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
>> is gabriella torres here?
ronald morgan, jr.?
yes, ms. Mcall fish.
>> I am the mental staff assessment team management at the jail central -- I'm at central booking and pcj facility.
I just want -- I want to brag about my counselors, they are unsung heroes truly.
as adam just said they meet people at the door in every kind of condition imaginable.
you know, they've had feces thrown at them.
they've been hit and they're trying to do a mental status assessment on people and -- in some pretty questionable conditions.
they work -- they work long hours.
they work holidays, they work evenings.
it's -- we are -- we are now communicating more with the courts, with the mental health courts.
our mental health assessments are going to the court.
the psychiatrist doesn't see the inmate until we write our mental health assessment.
nowhere I think in the counselor field are we -- do counselors make pretty intense mental health assessments, very comprehensive assessments in a very small window of time with people under every kind of condition in the world, you know, coming in.
it takes a certain skill for that.
it takes people that really have good clinical skills.
we prefer to have master's level people and licensed people, and I think more and more we're needing to do that because we're connecting more with the courts, more than ever with the courts, and we need that credibility.
it's difficult -- right now we're down three counselors, just about to be down four counselors, and I am in the process of touring people in the jail, prospective counselors trying to bring them into the fold.
it's difficult if we're not competitive.
it's difficult to bring people in and keep good people.
and that's what we're finding.
in my ten years here we're finding that there's really good people and people with good clinical skills, many are leaving.
they're going on.
this is a stepping-stone for them rather than a career.
that concerns me.
and it just -- it really speaks to the quality of care, and we give good quality of care but we really need to draw in good people and keep good people, and I just urge you to value us in funding the market survey.
thank you so much.
I love my job.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
>> if tonya mills would come forward.
ms. Torres?
>> I'm a senior counselor over at the Travis County jail.
I started in November.
I also have a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in counseling, and I'm very passionate about working in the mental health community and even fortunate enough to do it in a correctional facility, which is what I've always wanted to do.
and unfortunately working in this type of environment does cause a lot of stress, especially working a shift differential, 3:00 to 11:00, which we receive minimal compensation for.
it makes it difficult, but due to the dedication and passion that I have for this I am willing to stay and continue working for the sheriff's department.
but I do realize that there are other agencies that are paying their employees, their counselors above what we get -- what we get paid for, and also do ask that we take that into consideration, any sort of market survey or any other salary increase that can be -- that can be made for our staff, and we would really appreciate it.
thank you.
>> thank you, ms. Torres.
you're mr. Morgan?
>> yes.
>> tonya mills come forth, please, and robin osbourne.
mr. Morgan?
>> judge, Commissioners, Ron morgan with Travis County pretrial services.
the saying goes that an army runs on beans and bullets, and the folks from pbo just explained to you that the consumer price index went up April to April.
the consumer price index went up may to may as well.
it's actually 4.2% in comparison with may of 2007, with an 8/10 of a percent jump between April and may.
and so what that means to you-all in the very difficult seats that you-all are in is that the price of the beans and bolts has gone up.
so what we're asking, at least what I'm going to come in front of you-all and say is that I would ask you-all to consider two separate and distinct issues with respect to compensation.
first is fully funding the market survey at a level that appreciates the talents, the abilities and the criteria that people bring with them to a position.
and you're going to hear a lot more about that, I suspect, from tonya mills, who has done a tremendous amount of work and a tremendous amount of research into this.
the second thing that I would ask you-all to consider, separate and distinct from that, is a cost of living increase that does reflect the increased cost of living that we're experiencing quite literally day-to-day and month to month, as you see the cost of gas go up.
I didn't expect to be here and so the remarks that I had intended to give are actually in an email packet that you have in front of you, and I'm not going to bore you by reading it to you, but there are real and tangible price increases that have been seen over the last year, and so it's my hope that in addition to looking at the issue of equitable compensation and compensating people truly according to the talents and gifts that they bring to the table, that you will look at a cost of living increase that addresses the dramatic increase in prices that we've seen for virtually everything that it takes in order to live in today's world.
again, as many people before me has said, I greatly enjoy working for this county.
very few people go into government with the idea they're going to walk out rich.
I am certainly not one of those people.
it's that I am here because I like what I do, and just like a number of folks before me from the sheriff's department from tnr, we are simply asking you to keep that in mind and keep the cost of living in mind and also keep the talents that we bring to the table in mind when you make decisions based on compensation.
thank you all for your time.
>> thank you.
thank you.
>> [applause]
>> ms. Mills?
>> thank you, judge, Commissioners, tonya wills.
you've heard from me on this issue before.
you will likely hear from me again on this issue.
I'm here today actually to share with you, I've received a lot of emails, and I want to read one to you.
I'm not going to take everybody's time reading them all.
this is from virginia lee.
I would love to attend a Commissioner's court meeting tonight but I will be working my second job at randall's.
I have a master degree in counseling and guidance.
I'm a certified teacher and trainer.
I've been with tcso for five years and have excellent performance evaluations.
I like my job and him dedicate am dedicated to serving Travis County and appropriation.
I need relief in salary that only the court can provide.
if you'd like to pass a copy of this email on to them I would encourage you to do so.
many thanks, virginia lee." we have -- this is a fantastic venue.
we have an incredibly dedicated group of employees.
we've listened to them tonight.
there's tons that could not be here.
they want to be compensated fairly in the markets, a market study which was directed by this court, or court before it, that said we will provide adequate funding for retaining and recruiting employees.
let's give them that.
they're giving us a lot.
let's give them that.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
>> and are you ms. Osbourne.
>> robin osbourne, I'm a tenant with the --
>> let's get you a little company, April bacon and the last speaker, greg powell.
>> Commissioners, thank you.
I have the good fortunate of being on the pay scale so I'll just be brief.
I want to take a moment of your time and speak on behalf of the staff and support for them.
I supervise approximately 30 staff right now, and I've had the opportunity to tell some of them, congratulations, you've gotten a promotion, on oh, by the way you're actually going to lose compensation.
I've literally had staff that got an increase in their pay grade that because they went from eligible for overtime compensation and on-call compensation they lost that, so they lost money on their paycheck, they literally lost money on it.
and I've got other staff that they've -- they're 20-year employees where they were maxed out on the matrix and they went to the bottom of the pay scale, again, the same thing everybody has talked about, where a brand-new employee walking in from the street would make the same thing they would make.
and some of them -- some in the it section are being heavily recruited.
so thank goodness for loyalty.
I don't know what the sheriff's office would do without these people and I don't know what I would do.
so I hope that there's money to be found.
thank you.
>> thank you, ms. Osbourne.
>> [applause]
>> ms. Bacon?
>> my name is April bacon and I'm with the county auditor's office, although I used to be with the sheriffs office so I guess I can sit in this room full of sheriffs personnel.
I have been with the county 23 years in various positions and I want to take a moment to say that you-all have done a great job of providing us benefits, and I say that not only as an employee, but I live in Travis County so I am a taxpayer, and the program that you-all have put together has done just a fabulous job of providing us good benefits and still keeping the costs of what is an enormously expensive program in many organizations at a very reasonable rate of growth, and.
and I talked to people about that periodically, and no one can believe how well we have kept the costs of the program down for the benefits that we have from you-all.
and so I just wanted to complement you-all.
I want to compliment the hr staff that works on the wellness program, and I want to tell you that I use the clinic as my primary care provider, and I do that because you have a fabulous clinic staff.
and I do that because it was always very easy to get into the clinic, much easier than having to take off an hour or two of time, drive down south where I live to my care provider.
it was easier to get in, et cetera, but we are growing to the point where it's now easier for me to get in on an appointment with my other physician than it is to get in at the clinic.
and the clinic provides such great savings for the county when people use it.
not only do they get good care, but -- and it saves me the $20, but that's something that I can afford.
so it's not about the $20.
it's more about the time, the productivity and ultimately what it costs the county.
and I don't know if you-all are looking at expanding or bringing a little more staff on, but that would be something that I would ask you-all to look into, because it does take longer now to get into the clinic than it used to.
and sometimes I've had to actually go to my other provider, particularly when you have a medical issue that is something that needs, you know, immediate attention, because you've got a fever or whatever those things are.
it's just more difficult, and the clinic staff, you know, is fabulous.
but there's only so many of them.
and I guess it's probably a positive thing that they're having that much business.
it probably says very good things about them, but it seems like we're getting a little bit of a wait there.
I also wanted to comment on two of the proposals that you-all have before you with regards to covering the diabetic supplies and the colonoscopy.
the -- it can't be said enough that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
these are two things that I think really make a difference on the prevention side, allowing people to test, inexpensively helps keep blood sugar in check.
helps keep downstream consequences from occurring, that ultimately on the county plan people would be paying for.
there is obviously a human interest and we, you know, setting that aside, there's also this other monetary portion of it.
so whether you are concerned from the human interest portion or whether you're concerned from the taxpayer portion, these are just good things.
the colonoscopy, I had one done.
it cost me $300.
I was happy to pay the money to get it done because as a preventative tool it's a very easy thing to do to prevent a very serious consequence, but not everybody can afford that.
so that you-all are willing to pick that up I think is dynamite and I really appreciate that.
and basically that's all that I have to say.
except for thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you very much.
>> [applause]
>> judge bisco on, greg powell with the state county, municipal employees, joining me is eddie gary, one of the organizers on our staff.
and first what I want to say is on behalf of the road bridge employees and tnr parks employees, building and grounds, facilities maintenance, they asked me to convey their thanks to you for the action that you took this week, in recognizing and addressing their long-standing compensation issues and they're much appreciated.
so are we.
the reaction that you heard this evening from a group of mechanics was probably due to the fact that they learned today, as I did, that they were not included in that salary adjustment that we took, and although they really did fall under the heading of skilled trades, I believe is how it was put, that, in fact, those titles were not included in the action that we took.
I'm not quite sure -- certain why not, but part of the reason that has been offered to me was the fact that a market adjustment had been done for those fleet mechanics last year.
however, if you look at the results of that market study as ed from precinct 4 told you, of the 25 mechanics, that market salary adjustment amounted to two individuals receiving any kind of pay increase, and that was only the two employees that were green circled employees that were even being paid the minimum of the pay grade that they were supposed to be, and the rest of them saw absolutely no pay increase.
so it ties into what I want to talk to you about, about the demoralizing effect of doing market studies that are unfunded and uncompensated.
and we keep talking about this with you.
I've tried taking a big leap into the 21st century here by putting together kind of an electronic presentation for you.
give you some visuals as to what we're talking about.
so if you would, eddie, move to the first screen which was the history.
really in that history it's real brief.
in 1998 was the last time that a market salary adjustment was done wherein the employees maintained their pay level in whatever new pay grade that they moved into.
it was referred to then as the comparative ratio, that you always maintain your level, and when you move into a new pay grade, you maintain that level into that pay grade.
that's the last time that was done, ten years ago.
in the years in between, we have seen market studies done and we see pay raises being adjusted.
we see that employees are assigned into those new pay grades, but, in fact, those market salary adjustments are not funded so the majority of those employees do not see money.
as a matter of fact, it was in the last six years that this phenomenon of green circled employees emerged, and that is employees who are not even being paid the minimum of the new pay grade that they were assigned to.
the court relied and it helped with cost of living adjustments, performance-based pay giving departments discretionary money to try to deal with these internal he can quit and compensation issues, but the result has still been widespread recruitment and retention issues, internal equity issues and off market pay conditions that have prevailed here at Travis County over those last ten years.
what we did is took a typical Travis County employee and, believe me, there are other examples that are much more dramatic than this, but this is a fairly typical employee thing.
I think most of the employees in this room can relate to that.
and this is an employee who was hired approximately eight years ago, and based on the skills, experience, certifications, licensing, whatever they brought to them, when you're -- when you hire a new employee, you apply the Travis County wage determination guidelines.
gives credit for those sort of things and it determines whether we'll hire them in ne basic minimum or all the way up to 10% above the midpoint, which is what the department is allowed to do, based on those kind of qualifications.
in this case this employee came in at pay level 6.
I'm going to have a hard time doing these numbers but I think this number is roughly 34,800.
the employees in the follow year sefs a 3% cost of living increase, moved their pay up.
the second year received another 3% cost of living increase, moved their employee up to the midpoint of the pay grade that they're in, which was pay grade 13.
the follow year, and this is where it gets dramatic for you is where the employee market study was affected on that employee.
it was unfunded.
however, the employees did receive another 3% cost of living adjustment in that area, so their pay moved at that point from $36,393 to $38,047.
however, they moved up two pay grades, and that dollar amount moved them to level 4.
and when I talked to you in the past about employees moving backwards in their pay levels, that's exactly what I'm talking about, and this is exactly how it occurs.
that employee, we had a year where we did not receive pay raises.
we had the year then where they received a 2% pay increase, salary moved out to $38,000, 38,808 and then the following year another market study is done, unfunded.
the employee received a 3 1/2% cost of living adjustment in that year.
salary moved from 38,808 to 40,167.
however, it moved from pay level 5 to pay level 2 and pay grade 17.
so if you move to the next page, the effect of this on that employee over this eight-year history, the fact they were hired in at level 6, through cost of living adjustments and some tenure they moved to the midpoint in that pay grade.
and then over the next subsequent market studies, here they are eight years later and pay grade 17, but have moved backwards to level 2, which is their current pay range, or pay level, at $40,167.
had the county been fully funding the market study and maintaining this comp.
ratio approach where employees maintain pay level and the new pay grade they move into, this employee's salary would have moved from the 36,393 that they achieved at midpoint to the $48,311 that midpoint at pay grade 17 would have -- where they're paid would have been paid now.
that is a difference of $8,144, pay difference that this employee essentially has lost over those eight years, because we have not fully funded that market study.
that's the effect, and that's the vecial of how these employees can move forward due to performance and cost of living increases, market studies done, move backwards, creep out a little bit, move back.
we have an employee who was at midpoint at one point in time.
he now is at pay level 1, 2 or 3.
and this happening to vast numbers of employees where we have this kind of compression that we are talking about.
we have all these employees lumped into these lower level pay levels as a result.
that is exactly the situation that we're trying to address.
I will speak to you more and be more detailed at the appropriate time, at the Commissioners court hearing on this in a few weeks and give you more detail in our recommendations on how this gets fixed.
but we have supplied you, I believe, with really, kind of a simple two-step approach toward addressing this problem, and one of them is first taking these employees and give them all the advantage of the Travis County pay determination guide and move them out to the proper level, pay level, that they should be based on their experience and licensing and so forth, and then fund them to that level and whatever pay grade that they're assigned to based on the market study.
that's a simple two-step approach.
it addresses this problem, and really kind of puts the stuff behind you.
the caveat, of course, to that is it takes money to do that.
and I've made a request and I appreciate, judge Biscoe, that you sent that to planning and budget office to run those numbers so we can see the effect of what I'm talking about.
I have a rough idea in my head, but there's nothing like the actual numbers so you know what you're dealing with.
but I'm asking you to this year start at least that process of really doing meaningful market studies and compensation for these employees so we can get them up to a pay level that they, I believe, have earned over the years.
>> can you make me a copy of your presentation?
>> yes.
I will make one -- I'll give you the completed version, the full version, the one that was at the Commissioners court, three weeks.
>> okay.
thank you.
>> thank you all?
anybody else that maybe didn't sign in?
>> [applause]
>> if you did not sign in, but would like to give comments this evening, now is your opportunity.
please come forward.
give us your name and we'd be happy to get your comments.
anybody else?
we've got four more chairs.
>> I'm judy cortez.
I work for Travis County hhs.
I have a bachelor's in law enforcement.
I also have a master's in political science, very fortunate to get those two degrees utilizing the harris county tuition program.
that program has not been increased, the tuition reimbursement has not been increased in a matter of maybe 15 years, if not more.
Travis County is still issuing out $300 a semester for reimbursement to date.
that is not even possibly enough to buy maybe one book, that I remember purchasing for about maybe $110 for one book for my family law class.
so I would recommend that you take into consideration and increase this tuition reimbursement.
I also want to reiterate what greg and eric stated is to fully fund the salary -- market salary that's proposed by asme.
I also serve as an executive board member on the asme local 1624, so totally supportive of that market.
salary raise.
I would like to also propose that you keep the epo for medical expenses, and that you also implement a bilingual stipend, a program for staff that are required to utilize a second language as part of their work duties to meet this important need of the city of Austin has this program already.
I think we can just piggyback on what they have and see how we can tweak it to best serve our clients.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> [applause]
>> thank you.
we appreciate you-all coming down this evening and providing input.
any other comments from the court?
>> thanks to everybody.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you for your participation.
>> we're in adjournment.
all in favor?
That passes unanimously.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Thursday, June 19, 2008 11:37 AM