How Mecklenburg County salaries are determined

To establish employee pay in Mecklenburg County, we apply best business practices that include experience, expertise, performance and comparisons against salaries provided for similar jobs in the market.

The Board of Commissioners’ compensation policy provides for “market pay for market performance.” This approach sets the market rate for each county position based on the average salary for that position in the market. This allows skilled, experienced employees to receive competitive pay for the job they perform and the work they produce. It also provides an opportunity and an incentive for less experienced and proficient employees to develop and work toward obtaining market pay.

The County’s Human Resources Department identifies the market rate for each position using salary survey data from numerous nationally recognized third-party vendors (e.g., Towers Perrin, Mercer and Watson-Wyatt) as well as salary data collected from similarly sized local governments. Jobs are matched to market data based on the scope of responsibility and the required knowledge, skills and abilities. For executive positions, salary data are collected from comparable jurisdictions across the nation because recruiting for these positions is done on a national scale. Pay rates for jobs recruited locally/regionally are based on the Charlotte metropolitan market and other comparable local governments in North Carolina.

Employees can receive a pay increase four ways: promotion; when their position is reclassified to a higher level; when their pay falls below the new market rate for their position; and when they receive a merit increase based on job performance. The most common pay raise occurs when the county rewards an employee for excellent work – a “merit increase.” Each employee has a work plan with specific performance standards. The County awards raises based on employees’ performance as determined in an annual review. Due to budget constraints, merit increases have been suspended for the second consecutive year.

Employees also can receive an increase if the market rate for their position is increased beyond the level of their actual salary. Fiscal Year 2010 was intended as the second phase in a two-year process to adjust market rates and bring actual salaries to 95% of the new market rate for those whose pay is below this level. In FY 2009, the Board funded the first year of this adjustment, which reduced the percentage of salaries below market from 45% to 35%. The remaining 35% were proposed to be adjusted in FY 2010, at a cost of approximately $1.9 million, but only about $1 million in adjustments were funded due to budget constraints.

Employee compensation is a vital tool we use to recruit and retain a qualified and diverse work force to serve our diverse community. We also recognize the importance of being good public stewards in setting pay and providing pay increases. Therefore, we use the best data available to make fair and competitive compensation decisions.

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