City Council Agenda and Packet 2017 03 14 SP

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SUBJECT: DISCUSSION/DIRECTION — LIVABLE WAGE OVERVIEW AND OPTIONS DATE: MARCH 14, 2017 PAGE 7 OF 12 • Since the SSS standard is only updated on a 5 year schedule, what methodology would we use to adjust the wages on an annual basis? Or should we adjust wages only when the livable wage adjusts? Answers to these questions would change the pay philosophy of the City and its current practices • Should we budget City funds to assist with funding the SSS analysis every 5 years? Cost Estimate: The cost estimate to increase the five (5) employees to the livable wage of $15.67 per hour is $18,198 in wages, $1,392 in FICA, for an estimated grand total of $19,590 annually in 2018 and subsequent years. Recommendation for Implementation: • This option could be implemented within a two week time frame and the costs could be absorbed in the 2017 budget. Budget amendments would need to be added to both the Golf Course Enterprise Fund and the General Fund during the budget amendment process in May of 2017. • Discussions with supervisors would need to occur prior to implementing this option so information could be shared with the affected employees and other staff members. • Meet with ALL City employees to present information regarding new pay philosophy and livable wage standard for the City for this group of employees. Transparency with pay is one of the tenants of best practices for compensation in an organization. Option 3: Use Colorado Self -Sufficiency Standard (SSS) as the wage standard for ALL City of Louisville positions in order to maintain wage fairness and avoid wage compression issues. Pros: • Makes the livable wage the prevailing wage across all categories of employees and avoids compression issues. • Likely to increase satisfaction levels among employees. • Pay practices would be similar to the City of Boulder and Boulder County. Cons: • This is a very expensive option to implement. • It is likely a new funding source would need to be identified for this to be sustainable in the long term. • Addressing compression issues causes all salary categories to increase, including the upper salary ranges, which may not be the desired result. • This option would change the current pay philosophy by placing less emphasis on pay for performance or merit increases. CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION