Kenton County police, public service and dispatch employees are getting raises thanks to the adoption of a new wage scale.
At Tuesday night’s Kenton County Fiscal Court meeting, the court unanimously approved the adoption of a new wage scale that would keep those workers’ salaries on track with rising inflation and competitive rates.
Some employees’ salaries required adjustments so they could be placed inside the ranges outlined by the new wage scale, so their pay was increased in order to properly correspond with the new ranges.
“While this court had taken action to address individual departments like the police, dispatch, public service and detention center over recent years, the extraordinary times after COVID with the record inflation rates and the ongoing impact of prior pension changes, the fiscal court wanted to comprehensively recalibrate and set a benchmark for wage scales to effectively retain and attract talent to its departments,” explained County Administrator Joe Shriver.
During Kenton County’s last budgeting cycle, Shriver requested the court conduct a top to bottom review on where they stood in terms of pay and compensation.
“The court saw a need to reinvest in its most precious resource — that being its employees,” Shriver said.
The adopted wage scale and salary adjustments were based on recommendations from an external compensation study performed by the JER HR Group consulting firm. According to the study, the projected wage inflation for 2023 is 4.2%.
Some of the goals of the study were to:
- Maintain a compensation system that provides fair salaries on internal job requirements and competitive pay with comparable positions in the region.
- Attract and retain talent.
- Offer competitive benefit plans to enhance total rewards for employees.
- Maintain a compensation management program that is flexible enough to respond to the changing needs of the county.
Both Campbell and Boone County had compensation studies performed in the past.
“Every dollar we spend, whether it be a tool, or a building, or a salary, is somebody who earned that in Kenton County,” said Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann. “We’ve got the responsibility of watching the outflows and making sure the investment’s right. I feel like this investment is well worth it and important to continue to do.”
Kenton County Chief of Police Spike Jones expressed his gratitude on behalf of the county police department.
“I just do want to express a quick word of thanks for the pay and compensation study,” Jones said. “We greatly appreciate, and I know police administration especially appreciates the strategic look that the court has taken on pay and compensation. We know that this is going to move us into the future well beyond this year for many years to come.”
