Study: Kenner staffers' pay too low

A new salary study says one-third of Kenner's municipal employees are underpaid, but Mayor Ed Muniz said he won't spend the $238,324 it would cost to raise the pay to the recommended minimum.

"Frankly, we don't have the money," said Muniz, who said sales tax revenue is running $1.2 million below projections in the fiscal year that began July 1.

The Archer Company of Rock Hill, S.C., recently surveyed 317 jobs held by employees covered by Kenner Civil Service, a "merit-based" system that does not cover political appointees, the Police Department and the Fire Department.

Kenner paid $29,500 for the study, during which workers completed detailed questionnaires on their jobs, and the questionnaires were checked by department managers.

"Employees gave input along the way," said Chip King of Archer.

The company also analyzed the local labor market to develop a competitive pay structure, King said.

Archer's study recommended ranges of salary for each Kenner position, giving a temporary minimum, minimum, maximum and absolute maximum. The "temporary minimum" was included because city officials said they don't have enough money immediately to raise pay to the "minimum."

"This is a temporary solution to a problem," Civil Service Director Avie Fontenot said. She said she hopes the City Council will implement the minimum pay rate as soon as possible.

Five employees -- two playground supervisors, two buyers in the Purchasing Department and a clerk of court manager -- do not make the temporary minimum, according to the Archer study. Muniz's deputy chief administrative officer, Mike Quigley, said those employees, at a cost of $5,757, will begin receiving higher hourly rates on the effective date of the City Council's Oct. 15 ordinance approving the pay plan.

The study recommends that every employee be brought up to the minimum "as quickly as is economically feasible." And it urges that experienced employees whose performance meets expectations be given pay toward the midpoint of their range "as quickly as is economically feasible."...