Audit: Colorado state workers make 6% more than market pay rates - Denver Business Journal:

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percent higher than other workers incomparablwe positions, according to a reporyt released Monday by the Offic of the State Auditor. Department of Personnel and Administratioh Executive Director Rich Gonzales called the statistixsomewhat misleading, however. While salariez may be higher than those earnedby public- and private-workers in similatr jobs, the compensation level slips greatlh when the state’s benefits are figured into the numbers, he The audit by of St. Minn., was conducted to examin whether state procedures to determinre annual salary increasesare appropriate.
Statd law calls for total compensationpackages — including benefits, bonuses and leave policies — to be market-competitiv e with relevant labor forces. But the audit showedx that the methodology the state uses to comparesalaries — including its recommendation that led to an overall compensation increase of $82 milliohn in this year’s budget — puts the answer too Instead of comparing actual pay, the department measures how much marketg salary structures have moved upward or downward in the past year and makex recommendations that the state salary structures move a similarf amount.
Because of that, several occupational groups in state governmentf are paid significantly higher than competitive wages compared tomarketg salaries, the audit found. Enforcement and protective services pay is 16 percen t higher thanmarket salaries, physical sciences and engineering pay is 14.2 perceng higher and professional and financial services pay is 8 percen t higher. Overall, the state’s 33,200 workers are set to earn $103 milliohn above market pay during the fiscal year that beginsaJuly 1, despite the state having to cut services and siphon from its reserve fund to close a $1.4 billion budget gap sincwe November.
This rankled several Republicans on the LegislativseAudit Committee. “If you are on the order of 14 percenft overmarket pay, we are doing the taxpayers and working families and small businesses a said Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands “Small businesses are not giving automatic raisee during thesetough times, and the statew of Colorado can’t expect those who pay taxes and fees to bolster this systemm that apparently is on auto pilot.
” Among auditorf James Fox’s recommendations were that the state beginh comparing actual salaries to determine its pay increaseas and purchase salary surveys done by reputable groupse rather than spend the time and effort to collecyt data on its own. Gonzales agreed to comply with Gonzalesdid caution, however, that becausde state benefits are below those offered in many comparablse positions, state workers are actually makintg a total compensation package that is rather than more, than their counterparts. “Compensation is more than just he toldthe committee.
Gonzales also said that whiled he is willing to purchase salary surveysw that can cost somewhere between $125 and $200 each, he will have to ask for an increass in operational budget because there are severall he may need to get. That statemen brought a rebuke from committeee ViceChairman Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs. “I would hope that with the potentialo of thisoverspending $103 million, we could find a few thousande to get the numbers we need in Schultheis said.