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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSpecial 2026-01-26 Item 4A - Resolution - Compensation PolicyCity of Tukwila Thomas McLeod, Mayor Marty Wine, City Administrator 7 AGENDA BILL ITEM NO. Spec 4.A. Agenda Item Proposal to revise City Compensation Policy: Resolution 1951 Sponsor Thomas McLeod, Mayor Mayor's office Legislative History January 12, 2026 Committee of the Whole January 26, 2026 Special Meeting Recommended Motion ❑ Discussion Only ❑x Action Requested MOVE TO approve the resolution adopting the compensation policy. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Resolution 1951 has governed the City's compensation framework for several years. Since its adoption, the City's workforce, labor market conditions, and policy priorities have evolved significantly. Council has emphasized equity, transparency, and long-term financial sustainability, and the City has undertaken major compensation -related work, including the recent Classification and Compensation Study (in 2024) and discussions at the Financial Sustainability Committee. Beginning in June 2025, Human Resources initiated a review of Resolution 1951 to assess whether the policy continues to meet operational needs and align with current practices. During this review, Council requested additional context, comparisons to other jurisdictions' policies, and clarification regarding how a compensation philosophy fits within the City's overall governance framework. Based on that feedback, staff is not proposing to replace Resolution 1951, but rather to revise and modernize it, retaining Council governance, while updating outdated or unclear provisions. DISCUSSION Staff is seeking Council feedback on the following proposed revisions to Resolution 1951: • Clarifying purpose and rationale: Moves explanatory language from outdated "Whereas" clauses into the body of the policy so the "why" behind compensation decisions —recruitment, retention, equity, and fiscal stewardship is clearly stated and durable over time. • Updating market study cadence: Establishes a standard three-year market study cycle for non -represented employees, while retaining flexibility to conduct studies more frequently if market or operational conditions warrant. • Aligning policy with actual practice: Removes references to automatic cost -of -living adjustments (COLA) and clarifies that wage adjustments are determined through collective bargaining, administrative processes, and the budget, consistent with how compensation is currently set. • Formalizing a total compensation approach: Explicitly recognizes total compensation including pay, benefits, and leave as the basis for evaluating competitiveness, an approach already used for police compensation and now applied consistently across employee groups. • Clarifying comparable jurisdictions: Codifies use of assessed valuation, police department presence, and Valley Cities as comparators, aligning the policy with methodologies already in use. 24 • Strengthening equity and compression oversight: Adds explicit commitments to monitor equity and compression, apply the City's Equity Toolkit, and report annually to Council. • Reinforcing governance roles: Clarifies the roles of Council, the Mayor or designee, and Administration, including requiring Council review of the Compensation Policy prior to adoption of the biennial budget. • Align New Hire Pay with City Policy: Revising the policy to delegate approval authority to the Mayor rather than Council. This would allow timely salary negotiations without delaying decisions. Requiring written justification for exceptions to reinforce transparency. Consistently communicating this policy to hiring managers to reduce pay compression and inequities at entry. FINANCIAL IMPACT Complete for all items with fiscal implications Disclaimer; Final terms and scope of work subject to review by the Ci Al ;orney Comments: There is no immediate fiscal impact associated with revising Resolution 1951. Any future compensation adjustments resulting from market studies, equity reviews, or collective bargaining will continue to be reviewed and approved through established budget and bargaining processes. ATTACHMENTS • Resolution - Final Version • Summary of proposed changes (linked only) C:1Users\andy-y\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\DWVWM4YX\Agenda Bill_Proposal to revise Res 1951 (002).docx 25 Washington esolution N. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, ESTABLISHING A COMPENSATION POLICY FOR CITY OF TUKWILA EMPLOYEES AND REPEALING RESOLUTION NO. 1951. WHEREAS, the City believes that the purpose of a compensation program is to facilitate recruiting, retention, development and productivity of employees; and WHEREAS, the City desires to utilize standardized policies, procedures and processes, wherever possible, for compensating all employee groups, both represented and non -represented; and WHEREAS, the City recognizes that current economic conditions and forecasts, long-range City budget forecasts, recruitment or retention difficulties for certain positions, and position rates for comparable jurisdictions, as well as internal equity considerations, should assist in guiding the compensation of employees; and WHEREAS, the City has made a determination to, when economic conditions and negotiations allow, provide employees with salaries that reflect the average of comparable jurisdictions; and WHEREAS, the City Council will participate in setting negotiation expectations and reviewing and approving represented employee group contracts; and WHEREAS, increases in pay for positions on the salary range will be approved by the City Council for each position classification, as adopted in the City's Biennial Budget and as amended or supplemented from time to time; NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, HEREBY RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The following compensation philosophy is adopted for the purpose of guiding employee compensation for the City of Tukwila. A. Information to be provided to the City Council. 1. For Represented Employees. A written presentation of current internal and local external public agency salary and benefit trends, including a salary and 2026 Legislation: Compensation Policy Version: 1/6/2026 Staff: T. Croone 26 Page 1 of 3 benefits market survey of comparable jurisdictions, as defined herein, will be provided to the City Council. This presentation must be made to the Council prior to the commencement of negotiations with the bargaining units regarding salary and benefits. The City Council and Administration will discuss represented employee group negotiation expectations, negotiating points, salary and benefit change floors and/or ceilings prior to the beginning of, and at appropriate points during, negotiation sessions. 2. For Non -Represented Employees. A written presentation of current internal and local external public agency salary and benefit trends, including a salary and benefits market survey of comparable jurisdictions, as defined herein, will be provided to the City Council by Administration every other year. Relevant Association of Washington Cities (AWC) data from the previous year's Washington City and County Employee Salary and Benefit Survey, for the comparable jurisdictions, will be used in the salary market survey. B. Compensation Policy. 1. Total Compensation. Where practicable, the total cost of compensation will be considered in addition to base pay, including the value of earned and paid leave, the value of health insurance and benefits, longevity, deferred compensation, education pay, and other cash compensation. 2. Periodically, the City may conduct a salary and benefits market survey to ensure the City's positions are paid appropriately as evaluated against comparable jurisdictions, economic conditions in the area, prevailing wage rates, and/or recruitment or retention considerations for certain positions. Market adjustments to positions on the salary schedule shall be subject to budgetary consideration. 3. All Puget Sound jurisdictions with +75/-50% of Tukwila's annual assessed valuation, using the most current data from County Assessors, will be used to create the list of comparable jurisdictions for evaluation of salary information. A second criteria to be used to refine comparable jurisdictions is to only include cities with their own police department. Comparable jurisdictions will also include the geographic labor market where Tukwila attracts applicants from, to include the Valley Cities (Kent, Renton, Auburn, Federal Way, and Des Moines). to the City will use the same comparable jurisdictions for both represented and non -represented employee groups. 4. For non -represented employees, the City desires to pay the average salary for the particular pay scale, as derived from the comparable jurisdiction data described in Section B.1. For represented employees, the City desires to pay salaries that are competitive to the City's comparable jurisdictions. 5. Positions that are 5% below the market and up to 10% above the market are considered competitive with the market and will receive a market adjustment the year the survey is to occur. Those positions more than 10% above the market will not receive an adjustment during the year the market adjustment is to occur and will warrant further evaluation. Documented justification of potential reclassification will be provided to the Mayor or their designee for review and approval. If the documented justification results in reclassification, any adjustments will be made in alignment with City policy. 2026 Legislation: Compensation Policy Version: 1/6/2026 Staff: T. Croone Page 2of3 27 6. The cost -of -living adjustment (COLA) for non -represented employees shall be based upon the Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) Average (June to June). Considerations for cost -of -living adjustment will be based upon internal equity with represented groups to determine if an adjustment is warranted. 7. The goal of the City is to establish parity between represented and non - represented employees' benefits. The City desires to provide employee benefits that are competitive to the comparable cities described herein. The City will endeavor to keep increases to annual health care costs under market averages. If costs exceed market averages, adjustments will be made to reduce benefit costs. 8. The goal of the City is to mitigate or avoid salary compression issues where possible. An example of salary compression is when there is only a small difference in pay between employees regardless of their skills, level, seniority or experience. 9. The City Council shall review the compensation policy described herein prior to approval of the Biennial Budget to assess efficacy and make adjustments if warranted. If the Administration determines that a deviation from the above process (in its entirety or for individual positions) is necessary, it will provide justification to the City Council for review and approval prior to the adoption of any process change. Section 2. Resolution No. 1951 is hereby repealed. PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, at a Special Meeting thereof this day of , 2026. ATTEST/AUTHENTICATED: Andy Youn-Barnett, CMC, City Clerk Armen Papyan, Council President APPROVED AS TO FORM BY: Kari Sand, City Attorney 2026 Legislation: Compensation Policy Version: 1/6/2026 Filed with the City Clerk: Passed by the City Council: Resolution Number: Staff: T. Croone 28 Page 3 of 3