LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 2, No. 46 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
LOUDOU
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Discover Loudoun Special Edition Inside
[ Sept. 28 – Oct. 4, 2017 ] A Guide to Yo
ur Community
Study Shows Loudoun is Behind on Salaries BY RENSS GREENE
Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
Career firefighter Mike Wallo checks extraction tools on a heavy rescue truck at the Purcellville Public Safety Center. Loudoun firefighters are at a particular disadvantage compared to other jurisdictions’ first responders because they do not enjoy a step-and-grade pay scale.
An overview of how the Loudoun County government pays its employees could lead to a complete compensation overhaul. Last spring, the Board of Supervisors commissioned a review of how the county writes its job descriptions, classifies its employees, and pays them. Especially since the 2008 recession, the local government hasn’t kept pace with growth in the county. In many ways, it still pays its employees like a small jurisdiction, supervisors were told. “What’s happened over time is basically you’ve outgrown the system you’ve put into place,” said Jeff Ling of Evergreen Solutions, the consultant brought in to study the county’s compensa-
tion structure. The consultants found that, while the county needs to update its pay structure, it hasn’t even kept up with the old one. Loudoun County currently aims to pay its employees, on average, 95 percent of what is paid by competing jurisdictions, defined as Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William. Every one of those jurisdictions aims to pay either 100 percent of the market midpoint, or within 5 percentage points to either side. The county falls well short of even its stated goals. Over time, as Loudoun’s pay increases have lagged behind competing jurisdictions, small differences have added up. Raises for Loudoun employees since 2008 have fallen behind their cohort in competing jurisdic-
tions by nearly nine percent. The Board of Supervisors has decided the county will aim for salaries in a range of 95 percent to 105 percent of median pay in the area. The county will also change how it writes job descriptions for employees—and how many. The county classes employees in 10 broad career paths and 42 pay grades. In practice, the consultant found, the county has had to jury-rig its own system with market adjustments since the 1980s, creating 154 de facto pay grades. All those problems, Ling said, will make it hard for the county to recruit. “Your compensation strategy LOUDOUN SALARIES >> 35
Women in Blue Making an Impact at the LPD BY KARA C. RODRIGUEZ The Leesburg Police Department’s female ranks have been hitting some major milestones lately. The department boasts many female “firsts”—the first woman on its version of the SWAT team, the first female crisis negotiator, its first Latina officer, the first female K9 officer and first female K9, as well as two women who rank among the highest officers in the department. Deputy Chief Vanessa Grigsby, who served as acting chief for much of last year as the town searched for a replacement for retired former police chief Joseph Price, is the second highest-ranking member of the department after Police Chief Gregory Brown. And Lt.
Jaime Sanford, who for 14 years had served with the Loudoun County Sheriff ’s Office, is the highest-ranking female officer, and second in command, in the Criminal Investigations Division, which recently closed the 2009 cold case of the Jammie Lane homicide. While the tasks the officers perform at the department vary widely, one thing binds them, aside from gender: humility. When gathered at the station earlier this week, the officers were more likely to laud each other’s accomplishments or place in the Leesburg Police Department history books, than their own. For Grigsby, who in her 20year LPD career has at times WOMEN IN BLUE >> 26
Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
From left, Lt. Jamie Sanford, Master Police Officer Jessie Shields, K9 Sally, Deputy Chief Vanessa Grigsby, Officer Marina Santos, and Officer Kristine Rzewnicki.
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