The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 2, 2025, voted to adopt a revised step-and-grade pay chart as presented by staff, formalizing changes made during the budget process.

County staff presented the draft chart and asked whether the board wanted to adopt it as presented or direct further revisions. A staff member said the chart shortened the number of steps and increased increments at higher grades to address compression from earlier schedules. Commissioners expressed concern that percentage jumps at higher grades remained larger in dollar terms than at lower grades and urged regular review.

One staff member recommended a corrective approach: “numerically to work with it as we take the median wage, apply COLA to that wage, like we did that one year, and say that's that dollar amount and then apply that across the board,” which would reduce the relative percent differences between low and high grades. Commissioners discussed revisiting the chart annually and considering non-pay benefits such as flex time and volunteer leave to improve retention while limiting fiscal impact.

A motion to adopt the step-and-grade chart as presented was made and seconded. During roll call, Commissioner Quarks and Chairman Yano recorded “Aye.” The chair declared the motion approved. The board did not adopt any additional changes at the meeting; staff were not directed to implement alternate numeric approaches at this time.

County staff said the chart remains in draft form for reference but the board’s vote puts the presented version into effect for payroll administration until further board direction.