Town to discuss employee pay

VERNON -- Town employees and the Selectboard hope to schedule a work session in the near future to discuss the long-standing salary issues for workers in the town office.

"It's been a while since our employees have really been looked at," said Treasurer Sally Brassor. The current raises for employees are set to go into effect on July 1 for the new fiscal year, so workers are hopeful the board will address the issue prior to that point, she said.

If the issue is not resolved by the summer deadline, the employees salaries will increase retroactively after the Board decides to finalize the paychecks at some future time.

Board member Annette Roydon said in her opinion the issue will not be resolved by the first of July. She said the Board should look into having the department heads complete the new job descriptions for employees and in turn establish a system with merit-based raises on actual work-related events.

As it stands, the issue is expected to be raised at the May 19 meeting. The Board will likely choose an organization, such as the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, to perform interviews with the municipal employees and elected officials and may be able to

conduct them during the next session.

Last year, the employees complained the system used to adjust their salaries every year was inequitable, resulting in economic unfairness within the Town Hall.

There is a grading system in the office, and different people in different positions have different grades, said Brassor. Over time, the wages just became disproportionate and the employees would like to address the issue as a whole and not individually, she added.

In an effort to fix the problem, the previous Selectboard voted unanimously to spend $31,000 for "grade adjustments" in the fiscal 2009 budget to level the salaries in February.

"That (money) was not cut from the budget, and I believe they (the Selectboard) are committed to going forward with it," said Brassor.

During the same February meeting, the Board explored options to hire an outside contractor to review and update the salary grid, an idea the treasurer said was recently discussed.

Vernon officials hired Larry Lanata in the past to weigh the duties and come up with criteria for action within the grid system.

Chris Howe, one of the new members of the Selectboard, said the issue has not been discussed in great length so far, but she hopes the session will happen soon.

"We are trying to move ahead on this," she said.

Brassor said she is looking forward to working with the board to get everything straightened out.

Chris Garofolo can be reached at cgarofolo@reformer.com or 802-254-2311 ext. 275.