Mercer Report Defects

The City of Eagle has published a redacted version of the $22,250
Mercer Compensation Survey. The report analyzed 21 positions using
data from 21 other cities and public organizations. The conclusions
suggest that several positions are underpaid and several are overpaid.

Perhaps the much deeper problem with the report is the selection of
comparable cities. Should the City of Eagle be compared to the City of
Boise? Boise population is around nine times larger than Eagle. This
would be like comparing a 2,000 square foot house to an 18,000 square
foot house. Using Boise as a comparable might make sense if the
salaries were first adjusted for population differences. This
adjustment was not done in the Mercer report. The report also used
Meridian and Nampa without making size adjustments.

It may have been more appropriate to identify cities with 20,000 to
25,000 people and similar demographics. One would expect cities much
larger than Eagle to pay their employees more. By using cities much
larger than Eagle, and failing to make size difference adjustments,
the conclusion is not credible.

For $22,250, the Mayor should ask the Mercer Group to go back and pick
cities that are more comparable in size and see what the revised
findings suggest. I'll bet a penny that more City of Eagle employees
are found to be overpaid.