The budget season is upon us at Salt Lake County. Over the past few weeks, the Salt Lake County Council has heard the budget portfolios of various Salt Lake County agencies. On October 18th, UPEA Salt Lake County employee representative, Christy Berk, participated in a meeting hosted by SLCO HR Director Kathleen Johnston for Employee Groups. During the meeting, Mrs. Johnston discussed the recommendations HR made to Mayor Jenny Wilson to incorporate into her proposed 2020 Budget.
The Mayor’s budget proposal included these HR recommendations:
- No change in health insurance benefits or premiums
- Indexation of both General Structure and Trades/Technical Structure
- A 2.75% Market Adjustment for merit employees with a 2020 performance evaluation of at least 3
- Establish a minimum Living Wage of $12/hour
- A mid-year budget review to determine whether there is enough money for a compression adjustment in 2020
- 1% lump sum for red-lined employees
Additionally, Mrs. Johnston asked for comments and feedback from the employee groups. UPEA brought up concerns over employee compensation, benefits and retirement. Specifically, advocating for HR’s fullest attention to be paid towards the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, which is experiencing some of the highest turnover rates and compression issues in the County.
On October 22nd, Mayor Wilson released her budget proposal to the public. Later that afternoon, UPEA participated in the roundtable discussion with the County Council to give feedback directly to the councilmembers. UPEA representative, Christy Berk, mentioned that while UPEA supports the budget, she urged the Council to do what they can to ensure that there is enough money in the budget to pass a compression adjustment come next year. Compression is a complex issue that is very important to employees. It deserves proper attention, and budget-willing, needs to be addressed in the coming year.
After the 2020 Budget is passed by the County Council in November, Christy will be making lunchtime visits to SLCO agencies to explain how the budget will affect County employees and what to expect in the coming year.
If you have any questions or concerns about the budget process or other employment issues, please contact Christy Berk, 801-264-8732 ext. 212 or at cberk@upea.net.