Aside from the Planning Department head, no adjustments will be made to city planners salaries, despite the high turnover rate in that sector.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
In an effort to decrease Malibu’s high city staff turnover rate, the City Council, at a special meeting last Wednesday, approved a measure that could increase some city employee salaries and change the job title and classifications of several people. Also, a 401K-type program was created.
Although no city employee salaries were automatically increased with the council vote, the salary range for some jobs was raised. It will be at City Manager Jim Thorsen’s discretion whether specific employees get raises. However, all the city planner positions, except for the department head job, had no adjustment to the salary range, despite the Planning Department turnover being the most frequently complained about by residents. Thorsen said in an interview this week that the reason for no change in the planners’ salary range was because it was determined Malibu was already paying its planners at a competitive rate, according to a nine-month study conducted by a firm hired by the city.
The biggest change, by more than 30 percent, in salary range will be for the position of parks maintenance manager. Currently, the salary range for that position is $29,292- $41,941. It will increase to $42,132-$54,771. The salary range for recreation coordinator will increase by 29.8 percent, to $46,771-$60,802. In the higher echelon of city employees, the public works director/city engineers and the community development director’s salary ranges will increase by 15.6 percent, from a range of $106,208-$129,648 to the range of $115,312-$149,906. The Planning Department’s division manager salary range will increase 13.4 percent from $84,898-$106,125 to $92,611-$120,394.
Staff turnover has been a frequent problem in Malibu since the city was created 15 years ago. Last year, the council voted to hire Koff and Associates, a human resources management consultant firm, to examine the issue. The firm interviewed city employees and looked at how Malibu compared to other “comparable” cities, such as Santa Monica, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, Agoura Hills and Manhattan Beach. It was determined Malibu’s turnover rate was three times higher than those cities and others included in the comparison, and the salary ranges for Malibu employees were below average.
In addition to the salary range increases recommended by Koff and Associates and approved by the council, several job titles and classifications were changed to make them more attractive. Also, a deferred compensation-matching program was created that allows city employees to contribute up to $50 into a fund each month. When an employee leaves the city, they will receive that money from the fund, plus a matching payment from the city. Previously, people could put money in a fund, but they only received interest on it.
The council approved the measure by a 4-1 vote, with Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich dissenting. She said the report drafted by Koff and Associates, which included the recommendations, did not address other methods that could be instituted to keep employees with the city. Conley Ulich suggested ideas such as compensating for furthering education, creating a daycare program, paying for gym memberships and allowing employees to do their work on some days from home. Conley Ulich said Thorsen should be creative in developing ideas, because increasing salaries concerned her.
“We have a duty to the taxpayers who live here to make sure that the city of Malibu is operating in 10 to 20 years,” Conley Ulich said. “And if we take on a lot of financial burdens with our budget … we could end up like San Diego … and be in bankruptcy.”
Mayor Ken Kearsley disagreed that anything other than salary could be an incentive to stay with the city.
“I can give you the name of company after company that has tried bells and whistles for incentives,” Kearsley said. “But it all comes down to this, you ask each employee what’s the biggest incentive you know, [and they always say] ‘money.'”
Kearsley and Conley Ulich agreed on another issue-that an amount of time should be established that employees must remain with the city if they want to collect the full matching funds for the deferment program.
“If the purpose of this is to make them stay longer, then the additional compensation won’t be given unless they stay longer,” said Conley Ulich, who proposed the time frame be set at 10 years.
The other three council members voted against this idea.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to build in a system where people who would otherwise leave are hanging around to get their [money],” Jennings said. “If people are unhappy in their job, I’d rather they take their money and move on.”
According to the city, instituting the new policies will cost the city $298,000 this fiscal year, which began last month. But the city already set aside $417,000 to implement the recommendations, so it will not cost additional money this year.