KALAMAZOO COUNTY — The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners voted to increase the wages of over 700 employees- a raise that will be effective on January 1.
This decision comes after an extensive study revealed their pay wasn’t competitive enough.
“The Board of Commissioners really endeavored on this journey to increase wages as a result of recruitment and retention issues that we've been experiencing in county government, as well as in the region,” said Kalamazoo County Administrator and Controller, Kevin Catlin.
He said the average increase will be 4.89% across all pay grades. However, other entry level positions will see an even bigger raise.
For example, an income of $25,000 a year will bump up to $32,000– that’s a 28.48% increase.
“As a result of the pandemic, the COVID 19 pandemic, we found that we don't only compete just on wages, right, we're competing on other benefits, such as hybrid work schedules, just more flexibility that's offered. So retention has become a big issue,” Catlin said.
Using 1.33 million dollars from the county’s general fund and a million dollars from their ARPA funds, they’re making it happen.
“There was a nudge from employees directly. There's also a nudge just from just being out in the community, you see all sorts of employers starting salary as X amount of dollars, which is way above what we are offering entry level positions,” he said.
The new compensation plan will impact all non-union employees and union-employees— except the sheriff’s office and sworn law enforcement.
