Fairfax Officials, Employees to Talk Pay in September

By William Callahan

Fairfax County employees have had their pay frozen again in the county’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget, but officials say they are committed to solving the problem and setting up a new system by Fiscal Year 2015 so that freezes can be avoided in the future.

During the Board of Supervisors’ Tuesday meeting, Chairman Sharon Bulova discussed the details of her proposed “workforce dialogue,” a series of workshops where employees and officials will formulate a new pay plan.

Once employees and officials have hashed out the issues in a forum. After these educational meetings, surveys would be administered to employees for their input on the system and the major changes they want to see. Programs would also be broadcast on the county’s cable channel or online.

Employee unions have developed a preliminary pay plan that would provide market rate adjustments that keep up with the cost of living in the county. Staff is looking at the plan this summer in time for the September kickoff to the workshops.

“Creation of a fair and sustainable compensation package for implementation in FY 2015 is a critical element in the long-term stability of the County workforce,” reads FY2014 budget language.

Supervisor Penny Gross (D-Mason), chairman of the board’s personnel committee, said the workshops were a good strategy for generating a plan that will help everyone.

“That has been something we’ve struggled with for a while and I think this is a very good way to engage all of our county employees,” she said.

The board will monitor the progress of the workshops during personnel committee meetings this fall. The new and improved pay structure would be advertised in early 2014 with the rest of the FY2015 budget.