Dallas City News

Compensation has increased for supervisory employees in three Luzerne County human services agencies under agreements county council recently unanimously approved.

Represented by Teamsters Local 401, these supervisors work in the Area Agency on Aging; Mental Health and Developmental Services; and Children, Youth and Families.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo said Tuesday the increases were necessary to recruit and retain employees who provide essential oversight in departments that serve some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.

Known as memorandums of understanding, the new two-year agreements cover 2024 and 2025. The memorandums are equivalent to union contracts.

Explaining the compensation increases is more involved because they provide percentages linked to minimum/maximum ranges.

Here’s how it works for the general 3% increase in 2024:

• Employees below the new minimum salary for their position pay range will receive 3% or the amount it takes them to get to the minimum — whichever is greater.

• Workers over the maximum salary for their pay range will receive the 3% increase in a split format — 1.5% as a base-rate increase and 1.5% as a lump-sum payment.

For clarification: lump-sum payments are not added to the base pay rate and are subject to all applicable withholdings and deductions.

• If a 3% increase will cause an employee to exceed the maximum, the worker will receive the portion of the percentage that brings their base pay to the maximum and the balance as a lump-sum payment.

In 2025, the increase is 2.5% unless that increase will elevate the compensation above that year’s maximum pay range for the position.

The procedures for such situations:

• Workers will receive the portion of the base-pay increase necessary to reach the maximum salary and the remainder as a lump sum.

• Employees at or above the maximum prior to the 2.5% raise will receive half as a base-rate increase and the rest as a lump sum.

Ranges

Each memorandum lists the relevant positions and the minimum/maximum compensation.

Children, Youth and Families

• Caseworker supervisor

2024: $54,607 to $65,100

2025: $55,426 to $66,076

• Program specialist 2

2024: $52,013 to $60,856

2025: $52,794 to $61,769

• Clerical supervisor 1

2024: $35,500 to $41,500

2025: $36,032 to $42,122

Mental Health/Developmental Services

• Administrative assistant 1

2024: $38,215 to $44,711

2025: $38,788 to $45,382

• Mental health program specialist 2 and network specialist 2

2024: $55,481 to $64,913

2025: $56,313 to $65,886

Agency on Aging

• Senior center manager 2

2024: $35,500 to $41,500

2025: $36,032 to $42,122

• Senior center director 2

2024: $40,700 to $52,550

2025: $41,310 to $53,338

• Administrative officer 1

2024: $44,815 to $56,665

2025: $45,487 to $57,515

• Fiscal officer 1 and aging care manager supervisor 1

2024: $52,007 to $62,000

2025: $52,787 to $62,930

• Aging care manager supervisor 1 — protective

2024: $54,607 to $65,100

2025: $55,426 to $66,076

For an example of how the compensation has changed, the starting salary for a Children, Youth and Families caseworker supervisor was $45,000 from 2020 through 2022 and is now $54,607.

Past increases

County officials have been working for years to address compensation for these workers.

The prior memorandums ran from 2020 through 2023, but county council approved supplemental adjustments in December 2022.

These added increases were “necessary to address salary compression and staffing issues,” county officials said at that time.

Eligible first-level supervisors in Mental Health/Developmental Services and Children, Youth and Families had received 2% base-pay increases under the December 2022 agreements.

Aging Agency first-level supervisors received $1,000 and 2% base-pay increases through that agreement.

In addition, an August 2023 Aging Agency agreement boosted the starting salaries of workers in the senior center manager 2 and aging care manager supervisor 1 classifications because they were lower than the starting salaries of the employees they supervise, that addendum said.

These August 2023 starting salary changes: senior center manager 2, $30,500 to $34,100; aging care manager supervisor 1 in the protective services department, $39,900 to $46,400; and aging care manager supervisor 1 in other departments, $39,900 to $44,000.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.