Martinsville has to play catch-up if it wants to reach employee pay parity with other Virginia communities.
This is according to researchers at the Berkeley Group, whom city officials commissioned at the start of the year to conduct a study comparing Martinsville’s pay structure to localities including Danville, Roanoke, Lynchburg and Radford.
The monthslong study concluded that Martinsville should take steps, sometime within the next two years, to reach for market competitiveness. It defined competitiveness as a pay structure that equals 95% to 105% of the market.
The two-year period is to make sure other localities don’t get ahead again once Martinsville has caught up.
“Anything more than two years, if you’re going to [implement a change], two years is probably the maximum amount of time,” said Margaret Schmitt, the Berkeley Group’s executive manager who presented the study at the Martinsville City Council’s Tuesday meeting, “By the third year you’ve already fallen behind the market and you’ll have to start over again.”
The study included 225 full-time city employees and excluded the city manager and constitutional employees.
On average, Martinsville’s employee pay is 12% below the market. Around 14% of employees are 5 points below or at the market standard, while an additional 13% are above the market average.
Forty percent of employees are 15% below the market average, while 33% are 5% to 15% below the market average.
“That tells us that improvements are needed,” Schmitt said. “We think that tells you the same thing.”
Schmitt said the city has made efforts to course correct. This includes a 3% employee pay increase in the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year budget. This maintains Martinsville’s current position but doesn’t bridge the gap, she said.
“You won’t fall further behind,” Schmitt said. “That’s going to maintain your current market position. It’s not going to help you gain on the market, unfortunately.”
Schmitt suggested that the city change its pay structure. For example, Grade 7, the lowest grade, would keep the minimum wage of $32,160 while the maximum wage for employees in that grade would increase from $46,438 to $53,064. Each subsequent grade would see an increase in either its minimum or maximum wage.
Schmitt said the proposed structure change would give city officials enough time for an implementation timetable of two years. Full implementation would cost $2 million.
Next steps include working with the city’s human resources and City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides for implementation strategies before identifying and applying adjustments.
The council took no action on the matter.
“This is the first time we have seen this,” said Councilor Julian Mei. “We need to … read it, review it, come up with some questions, and, obviously, have feedback from citizens.”
