Longview contracts assessment for city employee pay increase

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - A new study contracted by the city of Longview sheds light on employee pay within city government.

At Thursday night’s city council meeting, Longview City Manager Rolin McPhee said the practice of bringing in a third party for an employee pay assessment is both standard and important to stay consistent with comparable governments.

“And the reason we do that is to retain and also recruit, and to remain relevant with our competitor cities,” McPhee said.

According to McPhee, general government employees make up about a third of total government positions. 270 positions are filled by civilians out of 870 total budgeted government roles. The recent review shows that Longview is behind comparably sized cities like Tyler.

According to McPhee, allocating $1.8 million of the city budget to the employee pay bumps would put them at 95 percent of the average.

“So, what we’re going to do with the numbers is review those in consideration to see what we can fit within our budget based on our projected revenues for the coming fiscal year,” McPhee said.

The city implemented a similar increase for law enforcement positions in the last fiscal year that brought them up to the competing standard of Tyler.

Once the 2024 budget has been drafted it will be voted upon by the council.

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