Winnebago County board approves $2.9 million increase in employee wages; amends executive assistant's raise
OSHKOSH ‒ The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to improve the county's wage structure for employees that will see an increase in up to $2.9 million per year in wages.
The board unanimously passed the plan 32-0 Tuesday night with the hopes that changes to the wage structure will help make the county more competitive in hiring workers.
The county hired McGrath Human Resources Group last year to conduct a wage study and make recommendations on how to better "attract and retain" employees. The study found the salary offered to 33% of the positions across the county was below the average market minimum for similar positions.
The new structure will give a raise to nearly 85% of county employees, according to Mike Collard, Director of Administration for Winnebago County.
Collard said the new wage structure would "re-slot" employees into different ranges where the minimum pay has increased. He said this will help the county retain its staff because long-term employees will be paid more appropriately and new employees can see there is movement along the pay range.
Mark Habeck, the county's director of human Resources, said those increased wages will take effect starting with employees' next paychecks.
Habeck also said during the Tuesday meeting the county plans to look into changes on how it awards merit-based pay, provides cost of living adjustments and structures its paid time-off policies. Habeck said he hopes to bring another package to the board about benefits and other compensation plans this summer.
Some board members asked whether there was enough money set aside for these increases. County officials previously set aside $2 million to fund potential changes to compensation. Collard said after running the numbers, there is a "strong probability" the $2 million set aside this year will be enough to fund all the pay increases, considering there are vacancies in the county.
Supervisor Rebecca Nichols of Menasha said Tuesday she believes this is a good first step for the county to reward its employees, but expressed concern where the funding will come from going forward.
"Our employees deserve to be paid and paid fairly," she said. "The big question will be funding it."
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Amendment added to change pay grade for executive assistant
The only major amendment in the $2.9 million packet was a change in the salary grade for the executive assistant position.
The county board voted 28-3 on an amendment put forward by Chuck Farrey of Oshkosh, vice chairman of the board, to bump down salary grade for the assistant of the county executive one slot from the wage study.
During a March 7 meeting where the packet was introduced, several supervisors questioned the fact the executive assistant position would see an increase in salary of almost $24,000 per year, as the range for the position would increase to a minimum of $95,000.
County Executive Jon Doemel hired his assistant, Ethan Hollenberger, in 2021 without the board's permission on a temporary basis before he was hired full time in July 2021. Hollenberger also has been the target of two workplace harassment complaints, including one in Winnebago County in 2022.
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The amendment would instead place the pay for Hollenberger in the grade 70 "slot" instead of the grade 71. That would set a minimum salary at $82,458. His salary in 2021 started at $68,297.
Supervisor Morris Cox said although Hollenberger has grown in his job since being hired in the county, Cox felt lowering the pay grade to the level in the amendment still reflected a "pretty good boost."
Contact Bremen Keasey at 920-570-5614 or bkeasey@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Keasinho.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Many Winnebago County employees to get raises with new $2.9M plan
