Victoria County commissioners OK salary comparison with neighbors | For Subscribers Only

Victoria County commissioners authorized evaluating salaries below with all those of surrounding counties to see no matter whether personnel are staying paid rather.

The accounting firm of Baker Tilly is conducting the comparison as section of an in general evaluation of the county’s income structure, commissioners have been informed at Monday’s conference.

The payment survey introduced to Victoria County Commissioners Court will component in results from 10 counties as perfectly as the Texas Office of Transportation, Texas Section of Juvenile Justice, the Metropolis of Victoria and the Victoria Unbiased Faculty District.

Giani Cantu, chief of team to the county judge’s business office, scaled again the original approach to concentrate a lot more carefully on counties that superior resembled Victoria County.

She encouraged the accounting firm look precisely at Nueces, San Patricio, Calhoun, DeWitt, Jackson, Angelina and Hunt counties as nicely as the Town of Victoria, University of Houston-Victoria, Texas Department of Transportation and Texas Office of Juvenile Justice.

“Those counties are of a more substantial dimension and have a tax base and populace related to ours,” Cantu explained in an job interview Monday afternoon. “Those are the entities we want to see how we review to.”

Cantu claimed Baker Tilly would look at things these types of as fork out composition, policy handbooks, work descriptions, organizational charts, union or collective bargaining contacts as properly as census documents that contain names, salaries and use dates. She reported she expects a preliminary advice from Baker Tilly in a thirty day period, with closing research predicted by the conclusion of July.

Baker Tilly could advise the creation of new positions in county federal government if essential. The accounting agency would assess government jobs by on the lookout at employees’ training, expertise, level of do the job, human conversation, physical demands, operating ailments, independence of actions, effects on the organization and supervision exercised.

“That’s how they will quality the work concerning the differing counties,” Cantu said. “We want to be aggressive with similar counties.”

County epidemiologist visa

County commissioners also authorized a legal services contract with Hines & Leigh, an immigration and nationality law firm in Austin, to function on the software of a do the job visa for the county’s epidemiologist. The H1-B visa would be fantastic for three many years with home for a probable extension.

Emmanuel Opada, the county’s epidemiologist, hails from West Africa and already has authorization to function in the U.S. The H1-B visa system is supposed to enable employers “that are not able to normally receive required organization techniques and skills from the U.S. workforce for sure specialty occupations,” in accordance to a memo sent to the commissioners court.

Considering the fact that COVID-19 broke out in 2020, finding epidemiologists has turn out to be challenging for federal government organizations, as has retaining them from other firms or governments. Because it is a specialized field, epidemiologists enjoy a crucial role in illness investigations.

Opada has labored for Victoria County considering the fact that November. County Human Methods Director Gina Howard reported owing to the virus, it has grow to be a obstacle to maintain men and women.

“It’s incredibly tricky to come across someone,” Howard reported.

A extended-time journalist, George likes 60s musclecars and firearms.