MARTINSVILLE, Va. – According to a new report, commissioned by city officials and conducted by the Berkeley Group, Martinsville’s full-time municipal workers are being underpaid by as much as 12% on average.
The study compared Martinsville’s pay structure to similar cities across Virginia, including Danville, Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Radford. For the report, researchers looked at 225 full-time city employee salaries. They did not include the city manager or constitutional officers.
Researchers found 40% of employees are paid 15% less than the market average. For city workers like teacher Latoya Smith, the news was disappointing.
“We got hard-working people that work here, that probably have two or three jobs and got families,” Smith said. “That is disappointing.”
But she’s hopeful a resolution will arrive soon.
“I would hope the city will be able to increase and I hope to see that for everybody that works in the city,” Smith said. “I think everybody in the city would be happy with that.”
Experts from the Berkeley Group recommend a two-year plan to bring employee wages up to a competitive level, defined as between 95% and 105% of the market.
“We would bring employee pay to at least those new minimums if their current pay is below,” Margaret Schmitt, Executive Manager at the Berkeley Group, said during the council meeting.
The proposed overhaul includes changes to the city’s pay structure, such as increasing the maximum wage for Grade 7, the lowest pay grade, from $46,438 to $53,064, while keeping the minimum wage at $32,160. Subsequent grades would also see adjustments.
City officials have already approved a 3% raise for the 2025–2026 fiscal year, but during the meeting, Schmitt cautioned that this only maintains the city’s current position relative to the market but would not help with market gain.
Implementing the new pay structure in full would cost Martinsville an estimated $2 million, a cost experts say would require collaboration between city leadership, city human resources, and city manager.
For now, no decisions have been made. Council members say they will review the study and gather feedback from citizens before making any moves.
“This is the first time we have seen this,” Councilor Julian Mei said during the meeting. “We need to read it, review it, come up with some questions, and, obviously, have feedback from citizens.”