By Carl Lindquist, The York Dispatch
York County, Pa. — York County is trying to combat turnover and improve operations at its 9-1-1 center by giving dispatchers a financial incentive to stick around longer and become more well-rounded.

Turnover at the 9-1-1 center has been a perennial problem despite changes in management over the past several years.

Police chiefs at a meeting earlier this year questioned the competency of the dispatchers and pointed to turnover as one of the reasons.

The county on Wednesday took steps to address the problem by introducing a new pay scale, said Bob Nace, executive director of human resources.

The change was instituted as part of a new labor contract with a union unit that represents 146 county employees in the county’s assessment office, facilities management department, parks department, voter registration/elections and 9-1-1.

Under the previous contract, dispatchers were each paid $13.07 per hour and received annual percentage increases as provided by the union’s contract with the county, said Kim Rinker, a business analyst with the Human Resources department.

Scale: The contract approved by the county commissioners Wednesday starts new employees off at a lower wage but pays them more when they learn new skills and work on different dispatch stations in the 9-1-1 center, she said.

A new hire will be paid $11.50 to start, but will be paid $12.50 an hour when they become a calltaker. The employee would get a raise to $14 per hour when they become a county police dispatcher.

The most well-rounded employees, who can work every station, can earn $15 an hour, plus annual percentage pay increases, Rinker said.

“I think it’s a fair contract and I hope the terms of the agreement address our workforce needs,” Nace said.

He said some dispatchers were going through extensive — and expensive — training in York County only to quit and work at other dispatch centers where the pay was higher.

Pay hikes: The contract also bumps up the pay for employees in other departments to get the scale more in line with counterparts in other counties, Rinker said.

Depending on an employee’s job, the contract calls for a bump of 40 cents to 55 cents per hour this year, followed by a 2 percent increase in 2011, 2.5 percent increase in 2012 and 3 percent bump in 2013.

The 9-1-1 employees would get the same percentage increases.

The deal calls for all employees in the union to pay more for health care, Rinker said.

They are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, District Council 89, Local 1485. A representative could not be reached for comment.

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