Changes are coming to Pulaski County’s salary matrix next year. The 2019 matrix approved by the county council last week seeks to correct a couple of oversights in the current version by adding the jail commander and certain employees in the Health Department. It also appears that EMS employees will remain on the matrix next year. The EMS Department was added to the system last month, despite opposition from EMS Director Bryan Corn and some of his employees.
Along with the changes to the matrix itself, council members also approved three amendments to the matrix rules, which will also take effect in 2019. “One just addresses the deputy pay,” County Attorney Kevin Tankersley said. “It just says that the only first deputies are the ones that are authorized by statute. So the two-percent raise that everybody gets, it’s just the departments that are statutorily authorized to have one. And then this would change CDC pay going forward, but you can grandfather it in on the matrix. And then one is just the change of the longevity scales because it was zero to a year. I’ve changed it to six months, I think.” He explained that the changes will add the Community Development Commission into the list of departments with a baseline salary.
Additionally, the county council approved the disbursement of back pay for a list of county employees who were scheduled to receive a longevity increase in 2018. Tankersley said the Auditor’s Office hadn’t paid out those raises, due to the fact that the county’s matrix rules weren’t put in place until June.
A large portion of last week’s salary discussions centered around the CDC’s project coordinator position. Under the updated matrix rules, Project Coordinator Krysten Hinkle would have received a significant pay cut, but her salary was grandfathered in at about $36,000 in the 2019 matrix. However, that’s still lower than the $43,000 salary she ended up with for part of this year, once the delayed longevity increase was factored in. Her pay rate between now and the end of the year had to be decided separately.
CDC Executive Director Nathan Origer spent considerable time arguing against any decreases to the project coordinator’s pay level, citing Hinkle’s duties and level of education, as well as the pay rates for similar positions in other counties.
While he accepted the council’s ultimate decision, he did voice some concern. “I can’t guarantee that Krysten’s going to be here much longer,” he said. “And I will tell you, if she does leave, I will be out the door behind her.”
Council members also approved the transfer of more than $8,000 out of the CDC’s Land Acquisition budget, to cover back pay for Hinkle, stemming from a misunderstanding with the budget.
