Page 27 - CityofKellerFY25Budget

Strategy 5.3: Recruit, Recognize and Reward Quality City Staff

The City of Keller knows our employees are critical to our services and success. Our community receives
an average of two awards or honors monthly for municipal excellence, which is the direct result of the
hard work and dedication of staff.
Accordingly, the FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget rewards employees throughout the organization. The budget
proposes a 2% market adjustment and a 2% merit-based raise for civilian employees, for a total raise of
up to 4%. To ensure an impactful investment in our lower-paid employees, staff who qualify will receive
a minimum merit-based raise of $1,175.

Our public safety personnel will also see raises this year through market adjustments, merit increases,
and changes to public safety step plans focused on strengthening our recruitment and retention efforts.
All combined, the adjustments to public safety wages result in supervisors within the police and fire
departments being eligible for raises of up to 5%, detention officers for up to 8%, and dispatchers and
sworn police officers and firefighters of up to 7% this fiscal year.

The compensation proposals included in the FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget would be awarded to eligible
employees at the start of the next fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2024.

The FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget sees the total number of full-time equivalents (FTE) going from 349.12 in
FY 2023-24 to 349.22, or a change of 0.1 FTEs due to the addition of a part-time GIS Intern position.

It should be noted that the number of employees for FY 2024-25 at 349.22 FTEs is far below the 369 FTEs
on staff back in 2009 when our population was 20% smaller than it is today. I believe this shows the
commitment of staff to operate as efficiently as possible.
Part of recruiting quality city staff is providing excellent benefits. In FY 2021-22, the city shifted to a self-
insurance model for health and dental benefits. This means that rather than paying an insurance company,
we retain money in the budget and pay claims directly while using a third-party administrator to process
claims on the city's behalf, helping the city avoid overpaying for administration and related overhead
costs.
More importantly, the self-insurance model allows for greater control over healthcare-related costs and
empowers employees to take ownership of the plan to minimize future expenses. As part of the city's self-
insurance program, the city created K Well, the city's new employee wellness program aimed at keeping
our employees healthy.

For FY 2024-25, the Self-Insurance Fund's adopted budget is $4,740,658. This is the fourth year the fund
will be active, and it has an estimated fund balance of $8,061,127 from plan savings and salary savings
from prior years. Despite increases in medical costs and inflation, there will be no change in premiums for
medical and dental insurance in the upcoming year. Since going to self-insurance, the city has not made
any changes to plan coverage, and we have kept the cost of insurance the same for employees.

For FY 2023-24, as part of the K Well Wellness program, all employees on the city's health insurance plan
must take an annual medical physical or pay a surcharge. Looking into 2024-25, a second K Well Wellness
program focused on curbing tobacco use will call for a surcharge implementation for tobacco users.
Tobacco users can avoid the surcharge by participating in a cessation program. To incentivize our
employees to maintain healthy and fit lifestyles, the city also offers discounts for participation in wellness

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