Camas Council eyes 4.5% salary boost for non-represented staff

Camas City Council members will soon consider giving a 4.5-percent cost-of-living boost to the city’s non-represented employees’ — those who are not part of a union or represented by a collective bargaining agreement

If approved, the salary adjustments would increase the salaries of non-represented employees — including the city’s police and fire chiefs; department heads and the soon-to-be hired city administrator — and cost the city nearly $220,000 in 2022.

Jennifer Gorsuch, the city’s administrative services director, sent a staff report regarding the proposed salary increases to city councilmembers in late October, and said Camas’ interim city administrator Jeff Swanson and interim mayor Ellen Burton had discussed the cost-of-living adjustment with city council members and proposed the 4.5-percent increase to keep pace with a significant jump in the cost of living from July 2020 to July 2021.

“The change in the cost of living index … was 5.9 percent (from 2020 to 2021),” Gorsuch noted in the staff report. “It is expected that the union negotiations in 2021 will result in agreements providing for a 4.5 percent wage adjustment based on the same (index).”

The council also will consider salary increases for the city’s seasonal employees to meet the 2022 Washington state minimum wage rules, Gorsuch added.

If approved, the salary bump would be the biggest since Camas City Council members OK’d a new set of salary scales for its non-represented employees in 2017, following months of back-and-forth discussions about an independent review of city employee salaries conducted by the consulting group HR Answers, Inc., which used private-industry data and a wide geographical scope to come up with new salary recommendations for nearly 70 city staff positions.

In the end, the 2017 salary increases approved by the Council took the independent report as well as city staff data, which came up with a set of salary numbers more closely aligned with public employees in regional cities that more closely matched Camas’ demographics and population, into account.

Following is the proposed, annual salary scale for the city’s top administrators and other non-represented employees in 2022, if the city council OKs the proposed, 4.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment this month:

• Administrative Assistant/Deputy City Clerk: $63,384 (tier one) to $75,924 (tier seven)
• Administrative Services Director: $123,768 to $148,260
• Assistant Finance Director: $107,244 to $128,448
• Building Division Manager/Building Official: $97,464 to $116,736
• City Administrator: $149,844 to $179,496
• Community Development Director: $123,768 to $148,260
• Director of Communications: $97,464 to $116,736
• Director of Parks and Recreation: $107,244 to $128,448
• Division Chief/Emergency Medical Services: $117,996 to $141,336
• Division Chief/Fire Marshal: $117,996 to $141,336
• Engineering Manager: $107,244 to $128,448
• Finance Director: $123,768 to $148,260
• Fire Chief: $136,188 to $163,140
• Human Resources Assistant: $63,384 to $75,924
• Information Technology Director: $107,244 to $128,448
• Library Director: $107,244 to $128,448
• Operations Supervisor (water and sewer): $88,572 to $106,092
• Operations Supervisor (wastewater): $88,572 to $106,092
• Planning Manager: $97,464 to $116,736
• Police Captain: $107,244 to $128,448
• Police Chief: $129,840 to $155,508
• Public Works Director: $123,768 to $148,260
• Public Works Operations Supervisor: $97,464 to $116,736
• Technology and Collections Manager: $80,496 to $96,432
• Utilities Manager: $107,244 to $128,448

The city’s seasonal employees also would see a salary increase under the new proposal, to help keep pace with the state’s $14.49 minimum wage in 2022. If approved, the following seasonal positions would have the following three-tier hourly salary scale:

• High school interns: $14.50 to $15.50
• College interns: $17.05 to $19.19
• Seasonal maintenance worker: $16 to $17.05
• Summer maintenance worker: $16 to $17.05
• Recreation leader: $16 to $17.05
• Recreation aide: $14.50 to $15.50

To learn more about the proposed salary increases, visit bit.ly/3wpzwwG. To read more about the 2016-17 salary studies and increases, visit the Camas-Washougal Post-Record online at: bit.ly/3EWJmJz.