A 3% pay raise is recommended for all City of Washington employees based on a recent study. The Washington City Council heard a Compensation and Classification Study for city positions presented by Graves Consulting at their meeting on Tuesday. 

The study consisted of reviewing and analyzing everything related to the current employee structure. The survey compared Washington to 18 different cities in Iowa and two in Missouri, including Knoxville, Mt. Pleasant, Fairfield, Oskaloosa, and more.

The recommendation is for the city to place all city positions on one open range pay structure. There would be a total of 14 pay grades, or ranges, varying in width from 35% at the bottom to 45% at the top. Each pay grade would be 10% steps. The recommendation is that all employees be moved into the pay grade for their position. 

To ensure that all employees are at least at the minimum of the new range 12 employees would be impacted. They also recommend providing a 3% market increase to all employees. 

The financial impact to the city would be $128,531 for 2026, and changes are pending approval of the FY2027 budget by the council. If adopted, these recommendations will be effective with the first pay period in July 2026

The total cost of the compensation and classification study is $18,165.