The Mariposa County Board of Supervisors last week considered salary hikes that could total up to 15 percent over three to five years for department heads, while at the same time they approved a voluntary severance package for county workers.
It’s not a great look: Offering employees the door as you consider giving the bosses a significant raise.
“The timing is terrible,” said County Administrative Officer Joe Lynch, acknowledging the optics.
“Having these back to back on the agenda, it looks like we are doing one to pay for the other,” said Lynch, who insisted that is not the case.
Both issues represent two long standing problems, and long delayed decisions, that have come home to roost in tandem.
Over the last 25 years the pace of government growth has greatly outpaced the growth of revenue, even as the county’s population has remained relatively flat. County leaders have talked about the need to “right size” the workforce.
The problem has become even more acute with the Trump Administration’s cuts to grants and entitlements, particularly for social services.
Meanwhile, supervisors have recognized another pesky problem known as “compaction,” in which department heads, who are not union members, may make only slightly more than their immediate subordinates.
The lack of competitive wages for senior leadership has hurt talent recruitment and retention, said county leaders.
It likely played a role in the resignation of Mariposa County District Attorney Walter Wall, who took a job last week as county counsel for Tuolumne County, a job that pays nearly $50,000 more.
And yet, both issues, salary compaction and workforce right-sizing, have solutions that can cause their own set of problems.
Who will leave? Who will stay?
Mariposa County began offering its voluntary severance package on Monday, June 22, and employees must take it in the next two weeks, by Aug. 6, which would be their last day of employment.
The offer consists of two months of pay, or $1,000 for every year of employment, whichever is greater.
The workers who accept the deal will get 100 percent of vacation leave, 50 percent of their sick leave balance and $1,200 credit to use toward COBRA medical, dental or vision insurance.
The voluntary severance is intended to reduce salary and benefit costs for the county, even as it allows the county to redirect positions to higher priorities.
It may also help avoid the need for involuntary terminations, staff said.
A full-time employee who takes the severance deal couldn’t be rehired by the county for five years, or six-months in the case of a part-time or seasonal employee.
In 2020, Mariposa County offered a similar voluntary severance program when the Covid pandemic affected the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).
There were 23 employees who took the voluntary severance at that time, costing the county $600,000, but it was expected to save $1.2 million a year.
But there is no guarantee how many employees will take the deal, or that they will be the employees the county would prefer to see leave.
That was the point made by Susan Seed, president of the Mariposa Chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
“The previous time we did this actually created a hardship due to the loss of experienced staff, which did create the need to create additional positions to compensate for the loss,” said Seed.
Seed said it took 1.3 workers to replace the employees who left.
“I think we got into the position we are in by previously doing this,” she said.
Pay raise for department heads
The board is still considering how exactly to increase the pay of department heads, who are not union members, to make their pay competitive with other counties and adequately more than their immediate direct reports.
The board is expected to weigh options that include a 3 percent raise over five years, a 5 percent raise over three years or a plan that simply allows the department head to make 10 percent more than their second in command.
Supervisor Miles Menetrey asked, “Won’t that put us in the same spot in the future?”
But Lynch said cost of living adjustments will then be adequate to keep department head pay ahead of subordinates.
The last adjustment to the salary of department heads was in 2008.
A recent salary study conducted by the county found its pay for department heads lagging when compared to eight comparable counties, especially at the high end of the range when competing for experienced employees.
Among the greatest gaps for Mariposa County’s department heads compared to peers in other counties: The treasurer ($131,000) and county counsel ($201,000) make about 16 percent less; district attorney ($180,000) about 14 percent less; development services director ($166,000) nearly 15 percent less; and the county librarian ($114,000) has the greatest gap of nearly 20 percent.
Lower salaries for department heads can cause problems when their immediate subordinates begin catching up; a phenomenon known as compaction.
Consider the case of Chief Probation Officer Ryan Oliphant.
He makes $154,899 as the head of Mariposa County Probation, which is about 10 percent less than the position pays in comparable counties.
Like other department heads and elected leaders, his salary is a flat rate, that with the exception of cost of living adjustments, will not change.
His number two, Monique Beaudoin, the assistant chief probation officer, has a base salary of $131,000. But as a union member, Beaudoin gets an additional $28,000 in longevity and other compensation that pushes her total compensation just past Oliphant’s.
“When the gap between department head and their direct subordinate becomes too narrow it can create challenges in recruitment, retention, succession planning and recognition of the additional responsibilities and liabilities that come with executive leadership,” Oliphant told the board.
Pete Judy, the former head of probation, who has previously scolded the board for failing to deal with the compaction issue, said he would prefer the steps be linked more closely to performance evaluations rather than years of service.
Doug Binnewies, a former Mariposa County Sheriff and 36 year county employee, applauded the board for keeping the issue on their radar.
“Those positions, department heads and elected, don’t have a bargaining unit,” Binnewies pointed out.
“It’s very unusual they will come to the board and ask for something personally. It will mean a lot,” he said.
Other benefits
The board went ahead and approved a series of benefits for non-elected department heads that their union subordinates already enjoy, including leave accruals, a longevity incentive and overtime eligibility for disaster and emergency events.
Lynch estimates the cost will be about $102,000 per year.
Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese told the board after 20 years with the department he lost union benefits when he became sheriff in 2020.
“The next day I stepped into a new role with more responsibilities and I lost those benefits. And stepping into that arena can be tough,” Briese said.
CAO Lynch has noted that he took care of his compensation package in February so he could negotiate with the union and on behalf of department heads without the perception of being self-serving.
“I receive none of these benefits. I get none. I think I have the worst contract ever someone told me last week,” said Lynch.
Lynch’s three-year contract is for $218,000, but it includes the unique provision of a one-year severance if he is fired without cause.
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