Kosciusko County Council President Mike Long, left, listens to Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell as she expresses some concerns about the proposed $15,000 salary analysis from Reedy Financial Group. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Questions about a $15,000 salary analysis by financial consultants Reedy Financial Group P.C. focused on the purpose and need of the study during Thursday’s, June 6, Kosciusko County Council informational meeting.

The analysis was approved by the county commissioners at their meeting Tuesday at the request of the county council and will be considered for approval by the council at their next regular meeting at 6 p.m. June 13.

Council Vice President Kathy Groninger told the council the analysis is part of Reedy’s engagement with the county as a special project. The $15,000 is a one-time fee.

“It basically is going to help us set up a matrix that we can use ongoing to take care of our wage increases and stuff like that. So we think it will be a really helpful tool,” she said, adding that the county had a wage analysis done before she got on the council and it was more expensive than the Reedy fee. She guessed it was around $100,000 for that study but didn’t know for sure.

County Treasurer Michelle Puckett said the prior analysis cost was nowhere close to that amount, and she had a question on the Reedy salary analysis.

“So you’re saying that Reedy is going to do the exact same thing as (management consulting firm) Waggoner, Irwin Scheele (& Associates) did?” Puckett asked.

Kathy said she wasn’t saying that and she wasn’t part of the Waggoner study so she doesn’t know what they did.

“This is basically just to set up a matrix, get all of our employees and all of their salaries on our budget so that we can know, like when we’re proposing raises and that sort of thing, we can have a better idea of how this is going to affect us. We can do different things, so, for example, if we need to do something different with one department for whatever reason, we can separate that and run the numbers more quickly to see how it works out so we know what we can afford, what we can’t afford and why we can do what we do or don’t do,” she said.

Council President Mike Long said it will tie into the long-term financial plan of the county, which is why Reedy was brought on board to begin with. The county pays Reedy $5,000 per month for their financial consulting services, and the current contract is for all of 2024.

Referring back to comments Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell made at Tuesday’s commissioner meeting, Long said he does feel the county needs a list of what is expected from Reedy so the county gets something that is meaningful to it. He said Mitchell and Kathy have volunteered to put that list together.

Kathy said Reedy is working on a complete matrix that will allow them to compare Kosciusko to other similar counties as far as employee numbers and salaries. “This isn’t part of that, but that’s where I know they’re going as a company to be able to provide that information. And this is kind of first steps, so if we never got to that. It’s not included, but this is a first step. If they get that formula figured out, then we’ll have the basics of that to be able to help us in the future,” she said.

Long asked Puckett how long ago was the Waggoner study and was told it was 20 years. He said it was a more complicated report.

“But my concern is, I’m not quite understanding, because you’re saying two different things completely,” Puckett said. “What Waggoner did is completely different than what you’re going to be contracting Reedy to do for this $15,000.”

Long said by comparing Kosciusko County with other counties of similar size, “we’re going to have some kind of an idea, are we close or do we need to” make changes.

Puckett asked if that was included in the one-time $15,000, or is that the add-on build for what Reedy is looking at in the future. Kathy said that was the add-on that the county hasn’t committed to doing.

“So, in talking about this, this is completely separate than anything Waggoner Scheele did?” Puckett asked. Kathy said yes.

Long stated, “This is just to set the monologue for the means to accomplish this, that will be based on our county alone. Every county is a little bit unique, but this will fit our county and the visions we have for our county and our employees because, as (county commissioner) Cary (Groninger) said, labor is our biggest cost. So this will allow us to get a better handle on where we are, where we need to be, where we’re going.”

Puckett asked if Reedy was going to look at each individual office and tell the council if those offices are understaffed and/or underpaid.

“No, they’re not doing that with this. This is the beginning matrix where – from my understanding – they’re going to go to all the departments, find out who’s employed and what their levels are and what they’re being paid so that we can use it for determining wages and that sort of thing,” Kathy said, adding that the council feels the salary analysis by Reedy will be really helpful to them in the long run.

Long said he personally, if the county is going to do something with wages or new hires, he wants to know if the county can afford it, how it can be afforded, how will be funded and, if they can’t afford it, he wants an explanation as to why not.

Since COVID, Long said, wages have “exploded and it’s a bit mind-boggling as to how we’re going to continue this. The county, I don’t believe, has ever laid off, but we’re getting to a point to where we’re trying to compete with the local job market, which is crazy in some instances.”

Puckett asked, “So this will take basically the dollar amount for those employees, bring them into the budget, just to see how the financial of the current status or new requests are going to affect our bottom line? But really this is just a dollar-to-dollar, it’s no true analysis of positions and wage classifications, which is what Waggoner did for us?”

Long said the county was still using Waggoner Scheele for that. Sheriff Jim Smith said he was happy to hear that the county was going to still be using the Waggoner Scheele study.

“This is not classifying or reclassifying any positions. This is determining whether we can afford to give a raise; whether we give $5,000 per deputy as we did last year or if we have to give a percentage raise or whether we do a set fee, percentage here. That’s what this tool is going to be – to help guide us on what we can do on that end with the monies we have,” Councilman Tony Ciriello said.

Cary Groninger said the main thing about the Reedy salary analysis was that it was all around the financial side of how it affects the budget and how it affects funding long term going forward. He said it’s a tool for the council to be able to look at how salary increases and additional hires today can be supported by forecasted revenues in the future.

Mitchell gave a history about how the Waggoner Scheeley study came about, back when she was the county auditor.

“When it all came back, the council said that’s too much, we’ll cut every one of them 5%. So from the day we started, we were 5% behind the regular known wages in our community to start with,” she said. “And then every year it was continued to give a percentage raise. Well, everybody knows what happens with a percentage raise – the rich get richer and the poor don’t get near as much because they’re only getting a percent of what their wage was. That’s how we got into this bind.”

She said the council never wanted to do another wage study. “So I believe what we paid Waggoner, Irwin Scheele 20 years later was almost the same as what we paid them to do it to start with because it was creating like a whole new schematic for us. So that’s how we got to there,” Mitchell said.

When the council moved forward on the wages, they went with the wages Waggoner Scheeley suggested.

Mitchell also talked about her concerns with the Reedy study and why they need to spell out exactly what Reedy is going to give the county for what the county is paying. “If it’s something we can already do, do we really need it?”