Washington’s City Council could adopt a new employee position and classification plan during its meeting Monday.

At its April 10 meeting, the council was presented findings and recommendations included in a pay and classification study performed by the Piedmont Triad Regional Council. After receiving additional information related to the study, the council decided it needed time to review the new data.

After that review and a review of the city’s proposed 2017-2018 fiscal year budget, $172,000 was included in the proposed budget to pay for implementing recommended changes. The council considered four options regarding the study’s recommendations.

Those proposals ranged from $63,600 too $399,000.

Under the first proposal, the cost of the city implanting only the new pay plan was $62,600. The study recommended doing that.

The second proposal called for adopting a compensation component (which addresses salary compression). That proposal recognizes the employees’ time in their position classifications. Implementing that proposal would cost $172,200. The study recommended doing that.

The third proposal would add recognition of the employees’ time working for the city to the mix. Its cost would be $225,900.

The fourth proposal, which combined the other three recommendations, would cost the city $399,000. Adding the amounts of the first, second and third proposals results in a sum of $460,700, but that amount is not a true reflection of the cost of combining the three proposals, according to a city official.

Matt Rauschenbach, the city’s chief financial officer explained in an email: “The proposals are not additive since they contain various combinations of components.”

Adopting the recommended pay plan would result in city employees’ pay being 3 percent higher than the average of employees working for local governments to which the city was compared to during the study, said PTRC’s David Hill, who prepared the study along with Bob Carter. That difference could change July 1 when the new budgets for the local governments take effect, Hill noted. The study compared Washington’s pay classifications and salaries to local governments such as Tarboro, Williamston, Clinton, Beaufort County, Martin County, New Bern, Greenville, the Greenville Utilities Commission and others in the region.

The recommended classification and pay study will empower the city in its efforts to recruit, retain and motivate a workforce with pay at fair, equitable and competitive rates while ensuring internal equity with other city positions, according to a memorandum Stacey Christini, the city’s human-resources director, sent to the mayor and council members.