The Park Ridge City Council this week adopted a pay-for-performance plan that would tie future pay raises for 226 non-union city and library employees to job appraisals rather than seniority.
The new pay system will be phased in beginning March 1 and will be fully implemented in the fiscal year beginning May 1, according to city officials.
The first year of the new program is expected to cost $141,743, officials said. That money will pay for salary adjustments necessary to bring the earnings of some employees in line with market rates.
City officials said the cost would be recovered over the next four years through the elimination of the automatic step increase all eligible non-union employees had received annually under the current salary structure.
“This is something I never thought I’d see,” Mayor Ron Wietecha said. “This gives us a better handle on this section of employees than we’ve ever had.”
The new system creates 40 pay grades covering 51 job classifications. Each pay grade has a 40 percent difference between the maximum and minimum earnings. The only way employees can move up within a grade is through job performance.
Employees at the top of the pay scale would receive a bonus instead of a pay raise. The City Council could also allow some across-the-board salary adjustments for cost-of-living increases.
The new pay grades will mean immediate salary increases for some employees, with the greatest impact on the library’s payroll.
A consultant’s report found that salaries of most city employees were found to be in line with the salaries of their counterparts elsewhere, but that the pay of 106 library employees was generally below market rates.
