Roseville Electric Says Higher Wages are Needed to Keep & Recruit Employees

In the past two-and-a-half years, 26 employees have quit their jobs at Roseville Electric, and most said their salaries played a part in their decision.

That's what a Roseville City Council staff report says, advocating for higher wages for many electric utility employees.

Some salaries would be unchanged and others would be frozen until their market values increase, but other wages in the department could rise by as much as 15 percent, the staff report states. The Roseville City Council will discuss the issue at its meeting Wednesday night.

Vacancies have been an ongoing issue at Roseville Electric since 2010–recruitments have netted few qualified applicants and the city has been unable to find workers to hire, the staff report says. The electric utility has a "significantly higher" turnover rate than other city departments, the report states.

Roseville Electric commissioned a study on salary rates last year, and found "on average, Roseville Electric's current total compensation is below both the median and the 75th percentile level of all agencies surveyed."

Some managers make less or "a very small amount more" than the employees they supervise, and the paid time off and overtime available only to non-managers "act as a deterrent for employees to move into management positions," the staff report says.

The recommended increases would cost the city $286,946 for "the remaining 10 pay periods of fiscal year 2013," according to the staff report.

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Roseville City Council meeting
7 p.m. Wednesday
City Council Chambers, 311 Vernon St. 

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