Doc Drop: Hyattsville Pay, Benefits Study

Download the study here.

What is it? 

A draft version of an extensive, 101 page study of the pay and benefits received by employees at the city of Hyattsville. The study was conducted earlier this year, and was sent to city administrators on May 16. 

Why is it important? 

Elected officials in the city of Hyattsville have been struggling to find a way to address complaints voiced by some city employees, particularly members of the Hyattsville City Police Department, that pay and compensation is not competitive with surrounding governments and police departments. They have also been trying to find a way to reduce the costs of retiree health care benefits, which threaten to drain a significant amount of money (nearly $1 million over the next fiscal year) out of the city's budget under the current retiree health care benefit plan. 

This study is intended to provide accurate sense of context within which future city employee and benefits debates can be understood.

What does it say?

The study recommends that the city revise its pay scales for civilian and sworn employees to bring them up to line with the market average found in other governments. It also recommends transitioning to an open range pay plan for all city employees, allowing for annual performance based salary increases.

In analyzing the city's salary competitiveness compared to other surrounding municipalities and Prince George's County, like Greenbelt, Takoma Park, Westiminster, Rockville and New Carrollton,  the study found that Hyattsville's employee compensation, overall, is "in line with the market at minimum and midpoint, but slide gradually downward as employees progress through the salary range."

The top end of the city's pay scale is, on average, more than 18 percent below market averages found in the comparison cities and governments, according to the study. 

But even at the midpoint of the pay scale, the city of Hyattsville lags behind the comparable governments and cities by 7 percent. At the minimum end of the pay scale, the city is 6.4 percent below the market average minimum when comparing selected benchmark positions.

In detailing Hyattsvilles pay scales for civilian and police employees, the study concludes that "the city's pay plan represents a well organized pay structure."

The study found that the majority of all city employees, nearly 63 percent, were being paid below the mid-point of their pay scales. When divided between civilian employees and police employees, or sworn employees, a much larger percentage, 71 percent, of sworn employees are below the midpoint of their pay scales. 59 percent of civilian employees are below the midpoint of their pay scales.

"In assessing the overall effectiveness of an organizations pay plan and policies, it is often helpful to analyze a snapshot in time of where employees salaries stand in comparison to the range in which they are placed," reads the study. "An organization with no career ladder, which limits the methods by which employees are able to progress through the ranges, would be expected to reveal a large clustering of employees at or near the minimum of their pay grades."

The study also found that the average length of employee tenure, across the entire city, is 8.6 years, "a healthy average tenure for an organization," reads the report.