Commissioners ask county officials to review wage study proposal

WALLACE — The Shoshone County commissioners are moving closer to completing a long-awaited wage study.  

On Wednesday, Commissioners Jeff Zimmerman and Tracy Casady asked the county’s elected officials and department heads to review a proposal from Thompson Consulting Group.  

According to their proposal, Thompson Consulting would complete a wage study based on 20 unique employee positions, comparing the wages and benefits of those positions in other similar-sized counties across Idaho to determine if Shoshone County is compensating its employees equitably.  

The Boise-based firm is one of a handful of companies expected to submit bids for the project.  

The county had previously contracted the job to Meridian-based firm AmeriBen, with the goal of having the study completed by the end of September. However, Commissioner Casady was informed that AmeriBen would not have Shoshone County’s wage study completed by its deadline. 

This frustrating situation sent the commissioners back to the drawing board, but there is a silver lining.  

The original contract with AmeriBen came with a potential cost of $26,000, but the county could cut that price in half if it completed some of the data collection work internally. In its proposal to the county, Thompson Consulting has assured commissioners that the project will not cost more than $7,000, unless the county requests additional work.  

A further benefit is that Thompson Consulting would be able to use the data that was previously collected.  

Before moving forward, the commissioners would like their department heads and elected officials to review and sign off on the proposal. 

“We want to get ideas from our elected and our department heads, so we get the right wage study," Zimmerman said.