In an effort to compete with retail and food service employers, Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation began the summer with raises for part-time workers.
Starting pay is now $16 per hour for part-time parks workers, $1 higher than the wage floor for Gwinnett County government employees as a whole. Adult athletic specialists, park crew members, recreation program leaders and tennis attendants now make the $16 hourly minimum. Starting lifeguards make $16.50 and water safety instructors make $30 per hour.
Parks and Recreation Director Chris Minor said the division had been considering raises since the beginning of the year. They took effect earlier this spring, shortly before the county commission voted last month to increase the minimum wage countywide.
“We were not very competitive in our part-time salaries,” Minor said. “We were at historic lows for lifeguards and part-time parks workers.”
Teenagers and young adults were instead choosing better-paying jobs at places such as Home Depot or Chick-Fil-A, Minor said.
The parks division’s pay increases apply to hundreds of positions, Minor said. The biggest group are lifeguards, but many are also recreation leaders who help supervise community centers and manage facility rentals.
The division didn’t have to request additional county funding for the raises due to the number of vacant positions on the payroll, Minor said.
The county commission last month approved 8% raises for all government employees and an additional 2% for first responders. The commission gave additional increases where necessary to bring the lowest-paid employees to $15 per hour.
Three weeks before the raises were approved, the county had 926 vacant positions, said Stephen Hart, deputy director of human resources.
Before the raises, 160 county employees were making less than $15 per hour, Hart said. They included entry-level firefighters and animal control officers, ground maintenance workers, part-time clerks and a few drivers.
The county’s lowest-paid hourly rate was $11.23 for part-time water resources interns. The lowest-paid full-time employees — a few entry-level administrative and elections associates — made $13.13 per hour.
Hart said he is interested to see what impact the raises will have on hiring within 6 months or a year.
“It does nothing but help when you’re trying to recruit people for those positions,” he said.
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