If city commissioners follow a consultant’s proposals for employee compensation, the next big change in Rehoboth could be how city employees are paid.

During a special meeting Sept. 7, Segal Waters Consulting Vice President Paula Singer reviewed with city commissioners the recently completed compensation and classification study. As proposed, Singer said Rehoboth would create a 16-level pay grade system. She said she’s seen local governments with as few as eight pay grades or as many as 25.

According to Singer, it would cost about $114,000 annually for the city to bring all city employees to the minimum proposed pay range. Singer said this represents less than 2 percent of the city’s payroll budget and recommended phasing in the change.

“This is not a lot,” she said. “I thought it was going to be higher.”

According to Singer, 34 employees have an annual salary below the minimum of the proposed pay range, with increases ranging between $120 to $11,328 annually. The report says 25 employees would be eligible for an increase under $5,000; the remaining nine would be eligible for increases over that amount.

Singer said 12 local governments replied to the survey. Rehoboth is the only one that has a pay structure with no pay grades.

The study also looked at city employee benefits packages. According to the study, in the city is below market value in the benefits of vacation leave, paid leave, vision coverage and retirement, while medical and dental coverages fall within market value. The study showed other local governments offer annual paid leave and a high-deductible health plan. Rehoboth does not offer either.

The study did not consider the economic impact to the city of bringing all the benefits within market value.

Commissioner Patrick Gossett said he is a strong proponent of moving toward a new pay method, but after not running for re-election in 2018, he won’t be a commissioner much longer. He said the onus will be on the commissioners to take the information and to take action. Moving forward with results of the study will recognize the staff as an asset to the community, Gossett said.

“The work the staff does really is the backbone of the community,” he said.

Police Chief Keith Banks said he supports this study. The city’s police officers have a union-bargained contract, but he said the department’s dispatch crew, about 10 full-time civilian employees, doesn’t.

Changing the pay structure will increase competitiveness and assist in tracking the progress of new employees, Banks said. It’s long overdue, he said.

Public Works Director Kevin Williams, who began working for the city earlier this summer after retiring from a military engineering career, spoke favorably of the city moving toward a pay system with classifications. He said the department has had to fill a number of vacancies recently, and it’s tough to tell new hires how their careers have the potential to progress, other than to say the city promises they’ll get raises.

Some potential employees want the stability of a decades-long career, but the city doesn’t have a course to follow for an employee to move up, Williams said. He also said he thought it was criminal that an employee hired in January wasn’t allowed to take a vacation until the following January.