Up until about a year ago, Santa Barbara County managers fell into one of about 200 different classifications with 77 pay ranges. The payroll process was a tangled web of employment categories and scheduled, automatic pay raises.
Then came the Leadership Project, unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in June of 2006. The idea was to cut the clutter. Those 200 classifications were trimmed to a slim 20. Individual managers were told they would get raises based on performance and merit. Department heads picked up more authority.
In short, life in leadership was overhauled and streamlined—but the change wasn’t cheap, and the county grand jury thinks that bureaucracy still obscures what should be a more transparent process.
Someone submitted a formal complaint about the changeover, and the grand jury members voted to conduct an investigation. The main points listed in the grand jury’s final report include the high cost of the change, and the fact that the whole project, including the financial aspects, is being handled by the County Human Resources Department, creating a lack of checks and balances.
“The Board of Supervisors should request that the county auditor provide financial analysis in the future,” said Ted Sten, foreman of the Santa Barbara County Civil Grand Jury.
Sten spoke for the grand jury as foreman—but was adamant that what he had to say wouldn’t deviate from the report itself, which took half a year to compile. He explained that members of the grand jury, led by their audit and finance committee, thoroughly studied the Leadership Project for more than six months, interviewing numerous county employees before presenting their findings and recommendations.
The final report noted that the board originally approved pay increases to total $1.7 million—or 3.75 percent of management payroll—for the project. The county stayed within that budget, according to a memo from the county CEO, but the grand jury disagreed.
In their report, the grand jury points out that in an earlier memo sent by the county CEO, the salary raises varied from 1 to 25 percent, with most of the top county executives receiving
10- to 16-percent raises—well above the 1- to 3.5-percent raises originally approved for the project.
What that means is the project cost the county more money than it would have spent on employee raises under the old program. The initial pay raises were substantial, and subsequent pay raises will continue to increase costs, the report stated. As a result, the grand jury recommended that the Board of Supervisors request a payroll analysis from the auditor/controller, showing the fiscal impact of future pay raises for all classes of employees, including the impact of pension contributions.
“The grand jury found that the full financial impact has not been provided to the board,” Sten said.
Santa Barbara County spokesman William Boyer wasn’t available for comment as of press time.
The grand jury also reported finding widespread concern that the project hasn’t been consistently applied to all departments. Under the leadership project, all 4,600 of the county’s employees were put into five different categories: general management, executive management, attorney/physician, fire, and engineering. Within those categories there are six levels. The three highest ranking positions are classified as “at will,” meaning the employee can be terminated at any time.
Many county employees left civil service to become “at will” when the project was implemented, according to the report, though an exact number wasn’t given.
And the report, wasn’t all negative. The grand jury acknowledged that the Leadership Project is a well-designed program overall.
“The Project is a good project and, if affordable, is going to benefit the county,” the report said.
Positive aspects of the project include a simplified payroll structure for management employees; more flexibility for department heads to hire new employees from outside the county and control raises within their department; and more control for employees over how they’ll be paid.
“The Leadership Project is a significant departure from the system used in the past,” the report concluded. “It has changed the overall philosophy of being a county employee and redefined the authority of the department head. Change of this magnitude does not come easily.”
Contact Sports Editor Sarah E. Thien at sthien@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 24-31, 2008.