Effective January 1, 2024, the State hourly minimum wage increased from $15.50 per hour to $16.00 per hour, due to the Director of the California Department of Finance having certified that based on the annual inflation rate from FY22/23, the State hourly minimum wage must increase in accordance with the Labor Code section 1182.12(c)(3)(A).  Additionally, Governor Newsom signed a new law raising the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20.00 per hour which goes into effect April 1, 2024.   

The City’s part-time hourly wages are currently equal to the State minimum wage, and historically, the hourly wages for these part-time classifications have been above the minimum wage.  City departments with positions affected by this minimum wage increase have expressed increasing concern regarding the City’s ability to attract qualified candidates when competing cities, community organizations, and private companies offer wages far exceeding the minimum wage. 

As a result, the City gathered and analyzed data on the City’s part-time classifications from the City’s ten (10) comparator cities, which include Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach, Orange, Santa Ana, and Westminster. 

An external and internal survey was conducted to determine the appropriate wages for part-time classifications to be competitive with other agencies and maintain internal alignment within the organization.  The pay rates for Garden Grove part-time classifications were compared with the median pay rates of the comparator agencies.  Based upon the analysis, the classifications that would be impacted are: Recreation Leader, Recreation Specialist, Senior Recreation Specialist, Intern, Police Cadet, Police Office Aide, Police Recruit, Reserve Police Officer, and Reserve Technical Officer.  The results of the salary study show that the hourly wages for the part-time classifications are below the median wages for comparable classifications. 

The classifications of Recreation Leader, Police Cadet, and Police Office Aide are directly impacted by the change in minimum wage.  These classifications are currently at Range O251 with only a one step salary of $16.00 per hour.  To remain competitive with comparator cities, it is recommended to return Range O251 to a five-step salary range and increase the starting wage by $1.00 per hour, resulting in a range from $17.00 to $19.00 per hour. 

Consequently, adjustments are required for the other part-time classifications to maintain internal alignment within and across job families.  For Recreation Specialist, it is recommended to return Range O252 from a one-step salary range to a five-step salary range and increase the starting wage by $1.00 per hour, resulting in a range from $18.50 to $20.50 per hour.  For Senior Recreation Specialist, it is recommended to reallocate the salary range from E101 to E106 to address compaction issues with the lower Recreation Leader and Recreation Specialist classifications.

Additionally, it is recommended for the classification of Intern receive a salary adjustment by returning the salary range O018 from a one-step salary range to a five-step salary range and increasing the starting hourly wage by $3.70 per hour, resulting in a range from $22.00 to $26.00 per hour.  This salary adjustment will bring the hourly rate to the median, and maintain the internal salary structure that reflects the relative duties and responsibilities, requisite knowledge and skills, and educational requirements of the Intern classification.

Within the part-time Police series, Garden Grove’s hourly wages are below the median.  For the benchmark classification of Police Recruit, it is recommended to increase the starting wage by $4.30 to bring it to the median and make it more competitive with other cities.  Consequently, classifications in the Reserve Officer series require a salary adjustment to bring it closer to the median hourly wage and maintain alignment within this series.  Therefore the classifications of Reserve Police Officer and Reserve Technical Officer are recommended to receive a salary adjustment consistent with the increase for Police Recruit and establish a consistent incremental $1.10 hourly increase between each step within their respective salary ranges.      

The City currently employs approximately 118 part-time employees who will be impacted by the recommended salary adjustments.  It is recommended that the salary adjustments be effective May 11, 2024 to coincide with the start of the Summer Recreation programs, which employs most of the part-time employees affected by these changes. 

The Finance Department, using the fully-burdened rate, has calculated the cost of these salary adjustments to be approximately $90,000 for fiscal year 2023-24. No additional appropriation is needed for FY 2023-24 as the additional costs will be absorbed in each department’s operating budget. The annual cost for these salary adjustments is approximately $600,000. The necessary appropriations will be included in the amended FY 2024-25 budget. 

It is recommended that the City Council:

• Adopt the attached Part-time Resolution that amends the hourly rates for Intern, Recreation Leader, Recreation Specialist, Police Cadet, Police Office Aide, Police Recruit, Reserve Police Officer, and Reserve Technical Officer, effective May 11, 2024.

• Adopt the Resolution to approve the revised Salary Schedule, effective May 11, 2024.

• Adopt the Resolution amending the Orange County Employee’s Association’s Memorandum of Understanding, which reallocates the salary range for the Senior Recreation Specialist classification, effective May 11, 2024.

• Direct the Human Resources Director to revise the classification specification of Senior Recreation Specialist in accordance with the approved recommendations of the Part-time Equity Study.