Should New Bedford officials get pay raises? Finding − and keeping − talent is tough

NEW BEDFORD — It's been called job poaching.

That's when another community steals your employee talent by outbidding you. Or it can be applied to getting outbid by a neighbor on a new hire.

And the competition between communities for talent is currently brisk, and it's having a negative effect on New Bedford, according to city officials.

City Personnel Director Judith Keating said the city lost over 45 candidates for leadership positions, grouped together as unit C on the city books, since January. They rejected the city's job offers after the "full on-boarding process," which is an expense to the city, she said.

For about a year, her office has been analyzing comparable communities' pay rates and job descriptions to reclassify pay grades and bump up the pay offered by New Bedford to remain competitive.

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The communities surveyed were Boston, Providence, Fall River, Worcester, Dartmouth, Springfield, Quincy, Taunton, Barnstable, and Brockton.

According to survey findings, an average of the pay offered by the 10 communities was higher than that offered by New Bedford in all but a handful of cases.

Based on the findings a reclassification of the unit c employees' compensation structure was formulated and presented to the City Council's ordinances committee Monday. Keating said they took a thorough look at the job responsibilities, as well.

If approved as is, it would provide the unit c employees with a minimum 5% salary increase. That would put the city's pay scale in about the middle of the average salaries offered by the 10 communities surveyed, Keating said.She said it would also make the city much more competitive on the municipal job market.

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What the salaries are now

The unit C positions, and minimum and maximum salaries under the current pay structure, include: administrative assistant, not provided; administrative assistant to the assessor, $87,492, $109,373; administrative coordinator, $49,256, $61,575; administrative manager, $56,476, $70,601; affordable housing specialist, $56,476, $70,601; airport manager, $87,492, $109,373; art curator, $62,266, $77,838; assessment specialist, $49,256, $61,575; assistant airport manager, $69,302, $86,634; assistant city assessor, $69,302, $86,634; assistant city auditor, $69,302, $86,634; assistant city clerk, $73,459, $91,832; assistant city collector, not provided; assistant city council clerk, $65,378, $81,730; assistant city engineer, $77,868, $97,342; assistant to the chief financial officer, not provided; assistant city planner, $69,302, $86,634; assistant city solicitor, $73,459, $91,832; assistant city treasurer, $69,302, $86,634; assistant director of cable access, $62,266, $77,838; assistant director of EMS, $73,459, $91,832; assistant director of human resources, $77,868, $97,342; assistant director of information technology, $82,539, $103,181; assistant director of inspectional services, $73,459, $91,832; assistant director of public health, $77,868, $97,342; assistant director of purchasing, not provided; assistant director of zoological services, $73,459, $91,832; assistant procurement officer, $53,787, $67,239; assistant project manager, $49,256, $61,575; assistant superintendent of highways/utilities, $73,459, $91,832; assistant superintendent wastewater, $73,459, $91,832; assistant superintendent of water/plant manager, $73,459, $91,832; associate city solicitor, $73,459, $91,832; audit supervisor, $53, 787, $67,239; branch manager, $62,266, $77,838; cable access administrator, $43,788, $54,739; chief financial officer, $143,131, $178,927; chief of staff, $107,181, $133,987; chief videographer, $56,476, $70,601; chief water treatment operator, $62,266, $77,838; chief arborist, $51,226, $64,038; city auditor, $100,169, $125,221; city clerk, $100,169, $125,221; city engineer, $87,492, $109,373; city project manager, not provided; city solicitor, $107,181, $133,987; civil engineer, $62,266, $77,838; civilian advocate, $47,361, $59,207; clerk of committees, $49,256, $61,575; collection supervisor, $53,787, $67,239; commissioner of infrastructure, $107,181, $133,987; communications officer, $53,787, $67,239; community and historic preservation planner, $51,226, $64,038; community development project manager, $62,266, $77,838; community energy coordinator, $62,266, $77,838; community relations specialist, $53,787, $67,239; compliance officer, $53,787, $67,239; conservation agent, $69,302, $86,634; constituent services coordinator, $51,226, $64,038; construction supervisor, $62,266, $77,838; curator of aquatics, $62,266, $77,838; curator of education (zoo), $53,787, $67,239; deputy city treasurer, $77,868, $97,342; deputy commissioner of public infrastructure, $93,616, $117,029; deputy director of community development, $77,868, $97,342; director of cable access, $69,302, $86,634; director of community development, $93,616, $117,029; director of community services, $77,868, $97,342; director of council on aging, $69,302, $86,634; director of emergency management, $65,378, $81,730; director of EMS, $87,492, $109,373; director of facilities and fleet management, $93,616, $117,029; director of grants and finance, $62,266, $77,838; director of human resources, $100,169, $125,221; director of information technology, $93,616, $117,029; director of inspectional services, $93,616, $117029; director of leash law, $65,378, $81,730; director of licensing, $65,378, $81,730; director of parking, $77,868, $97,342; director of parks and recreation, $77,868, $97,342; director of planning/city planner, $87,492, $109,373; director of public health, $93,616, $117,029; director of purchasing, $82,539, $103,181; director of resilience and environment, $82,539, $103,181; director of tourism/marketing, $69,302, $86,634; director of veterans services, $65,378, $81,730; director of zoological services, $93,616, $117,029; election commissioner, $65,378, $81,730; electrical inspector, $59,300, $74,131; EMS training officer, $62,266, $77,838; energy manager, $73,459, $91,832; energy office manager, $51,226, $64,038; environmental project manager, $73,459, $91,832; executive aide, $77,868, $97,342; executive finance operations specialist, $77,868, $97,342; facilities superintendent, $69,302, $86,634; finance and operations manager, $69,302, $86,634; financial analyst, $51,226, $64,038; first assistant city solicitor, $93,616, $117,029; garage foreman, $69,302, $86,634; garage superintendent, $77,868, $97,342; GIS specialist, $62,266, $77,838; grants auditor, $53,787, $67,239; grants compliance coordinator, $59,300, $74,131; grants manager, $56,476, $70,601; head of reference, $73,459, $91,832; head of special collections, $65,378, $81,730; health and safety officer, $53,787, $67,239; human resources generalist, $53,787, $67,239; human services coordinator, $56,476, $70,601; industrial pretreatment engineer, $59,300, $74,131; information technology analyst, $62,266, $77,838; information technology engineer, not provided; lab director, not provided, legal services coordinator, $56,476; $70,601; legislative counsel, $77,868, $97,342; library director, $87,492, $109,373; library specialist, $56,476, $70,601; management analyst, $62,266, $77,838; marine resource officer, $56,476, $70,601; marketing assistant, $49,256, $61,575; neighborhood liaison, $51,226, $64,038; neighborhood planner, $51,226, $64,038; parks and recreation manager, $49,256, $61,575; payroll supervisor, not provided; preprofessional librarian, $53,787, $67,239; program director, $62,266, $77,838; public access director, $59,300, $74,131; public health program manager, $43,788, $54,739; public information officer, $69,302, $86,634; rehab specialist, $53,787, $67,239; resource coordinator, $53,787, $67,239; sealer of weights and measures, $56,476, $70,601; senior branch manager, $73,459, $91,832; senior grants auditor, $69,302, $86,634; senior human resources generalist, not provided; senior information technology analyst, $77,868, $97,342; staff planner, $51,226, $64,038; superintendent of facilities and construction, $87,492, $109,373; superintendent of green space, $65,378, $81,730; superintendent of highways, $82,539, $103,181; superintendent of wastewater, $82,539, $103,181; superintendent of water, $82,539, $103,181; superintendent of water construction, $82,539, $103,181; supervising civil engineer, $69,302, $86,634; supervising public health nurse, $59,300, $74,131; tourism and marketing manager, $49,256, $61,575; treasurer/collector, $93,616, $117,029; veterinarian, $69,302, $86,634; videographer/tech assistant, $46,867, $53,616; water registrar, $56,476, $70,601.

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Trying to compete with other communities

Michael Gagne, interim chief financial officer, said the current municipal job market is fiercely competitive, with half a dozen communities seeking to fill the same position every time you check the Massachusetts Municipal Association employment listings.

"The problem is we don't have the present salary structure at a competitive scale," he said, to keep employees from being poached, or to help attract new employees.

He said he'd been a poacher "numerous times" during his 35 years as a chief administrative officer in other communities.

"When others were trying to take my financial people in past jobs I would find out what they were being offered and end up going to the legislative body and say I need X amount of dollars because I want to keep this finance person. We don't have that ability," he said.

Gagne added New Bedford city employees with their experience in a large community become very attractive to smaller communities looking for hires.

While agreeing a pay-scale reclassification was in order, Councilor Linda Morad questioned the validity of the communities-salary survey, and whether the job descriptions utilized were actually commensurate from municipality to municipality, and accurate in-house.

Her motion for the personnel department to run the numbers without the communities of Boston, Providence and Quincy and present the findings at an upcoming committee meeting was passed. She said those three communities were too big and were skewing the results.

She also asked for more details on the comparable job descriptions listed in the communities' survey.Morad estimated that reclassification probably wouldn't be fully approved until December. Her motion to set a date now of Oct. 1 as a retroactive effective date for the reclassification was also approved by councilors.Gagne said $300,000 had been set aside in the current fiscal year budget for reclassification. If the current reclassification was OK'd, it would cost the city about $340,000 to fund in the current fiscal year, retroactive to Oct. 1.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford officials mull pay raises to attract, keep talent