New salary sked will cost CNMI $4.2M

A bill that will establish a new base salary schedule for classified civil service government employees as well as increase their salary ceiling will cost the CNMI $4.2 million, according to Joe Pangelinan, employee development and staffing chief Office of Personnel Management.

He, however, believes that the benefits coming from a new base salary schedule far outweigh the cost of the government implementing it.

According to Pangelinan the benefits in implementing a new base salary schedule and higher salary ceiling are:

• Promote consistency in fairness

• Bring our entry level starting salary closer to the federal minimum wage

• Will increase local minimum wage

• Will keep salaries competitive to that of neighboring Guam

• Eliminate retroactive payments for within-grade-increases

• Will mandate a fair minimum salary adjustment upon implementation

• Will eliminate the retroactive payments for WGIs

• Will eliminate the annual granting of WGIs

• Will repeal the bonus salary

• Will replace/substitute merit increase for merit bonus

• Will allow opportunity to improve CNMI classification and compensation plan

• Will enact a realistic salary schedule that have least budgetary impact

Allow time for Legislature to identify funding source and fully implement salary act

Will continue to provide autonomous agencies and other government organizations the option to utilize a new and improved salary schedule

Will allow the Civil service Commission to finally fulfill its mandated responsibilities

Pangelinan said the last new base salary schedule was conducted was way back in 1991 and the last increase was implemented way back in 2002.

He said former representatives Dino Jones and Jesus Attao did introduce a new salary schedule in the late 1990s, but those proposals fell on the wayside.

House Bill 18-213, introduced by Rep. Ralph Demapan (R-Saipan) last week, hopes to remedy that.

Under the proposed new base salary schedule, a 35-pay level structure with 12 steps is used as the framework for the classification of civil service positions.

It starts with $6.25 per hour salary ($12,584 per year) for pay level 1, step 1 and increases by at least $0.10 until it reaches pay level 35, which is $17.95 per hour ($37,331.96 per year), step 1. Step 12 for the former is $8.60 per hour ($17,889.96 per year), while the same step for the latter is $25.52 per hour (53,072.73 per year).

Pangelinan said HB 18-213 will affect about 1,1000 classified civil servants in agencies like the Commonwealth Ports Authority, Northern Marianas College, administrative support staff of the Public School System, Mariana Islands Housing Authority, Commonwealth Development Authority, and the CNMI Judiciary.

“One of the duties of the Civil Service commissioner is to take care of civil servants. It’s about time and it’s more than due that this body proposes a bill or an act to introduce a new base salary schedule for classified civil servants,” he said.