Loomis ups salary range for new finance director

With mounting contractor costs and no finance director, Loomis Town raised the bar this month to attract accounting talent. Loomis Town advertised in August to attract qualified candidates for the finance director position left open by the late Roger Carroll, who was killed on his bicycle in an April hit-and-run. The town has since spent almost double his annual salary sorting out the complicated finances. Finance consultant Eide Bailly was hired last June to help with routine accounting while the Town recruited a permanent director. With no finance director hired by targeted November, that contract swelled to $302,000 through February. Meanwhile, the Town Council also approved another contract Nov. 14 with budget experts Van Groningen & Associates for $162,000. "When we had Roger, he was the start and finish of the department. When we lost him, all that institutional knowledge went with him," Town Manager Wes Heathcock explained during the Nov. 14 meeting. The town officially advertised the opening last August through Oct. 8, receiving only two substantially qualified applicants. Neither candidate ultimately was offered the position either due to their personal circumstance or their qualification did not meet the position needs, staff said. Contractor Bob Murray and Associates reached out to potential candidates to get feedback as to why they were not interested in applying. The consensus was the salary range for the Loomis finance director position is below the current market value, staff said. "Loomis is not alone in this issue. The labor market is very scarce out there, very competitive to attract the talent you need," Heathcock said. Staff conducted an unofficial poll of equal-size finance directors in the region and concluded the average top salary range for the Loomis position is $166,772. The current top salary range offered by Loomis Town is $141,402. The Town Council approved the increase to "Range 57" ($137,025-$166,555). "Finance director is a key position that we need filled for the long term," Heathcock during the meeting said. Loomis residents Dave Dalli and Pam Blake were concerned with the rising costs. "If you do the math, that's almost a half a million dollars we're spending in less than a year on finance. That is absolutely absurd!" Dalli said. "The consultant has done an amazing job digging through the details," Heathcock said. "They had to spend a lot of their time getting the records straight." The Town Manager noted the new contract with VGA will cut the hourly finance cost in half, from the current $300 an hour to $150 an hour, eventually replacing Eide Bailly.