Butler County officials are on the right track in considering ending the longevity bonus pay program for nonunion employees and swticing to one based on performance, known as merit pay. The logic of such a change is clear, but implementation will pose challenges.

The county’s salary board, comprising the three county commissioners and the county controller, initiated a discussion that other municipal governments have been having — with most planning to move to merit pay and away from longevity pay bonuses, which elected officials agree, have outlived their usefulness.

In Ashe County, N.C., county commissioner Gary Roark noted that years ago, factory workers in the area made more money than county workers. But, he continued, “Now county workers make more than the average factory worker.”

Roark’s comments illustrate the original purpose of longevity payments — to keep county workers from leaving for more lucrative jobs in the private sector — is no longer an issue. Most taxpayers would agree, while questioning the validity or purpose of longevity pay hikes.

Given that reality, many municipalities are looking at dropping longevity pay bonuses in favor of merit pay.

Carmine Scotece, director of human services for Butler County, rightly points out that any merit pay system has to be objective, and clear in setting performance standards.

Creating a fair and transparent merit pay system is not simple, but it can be done. An objective, data-based program for evaluating employee performance will have to be adopted and county managers will require training to make the system work properly. But the county will not have to re-invent the wheel in this case — there are doubtless existing merit-pay programs that county officials could use as a template for a system here.

Shifting from periodic longevity bonus payments to a merit pay program that provides earned increases above the regular cost-of-living pay adjustments is something most county taxpayers will support. But it’s easier said than done. County officials will have to study the issues, examine how it works in other municipalities, and consider a phased-in change while having new employees placed into the merit-pay system rather than the expiring longevity bonus program.

The topic has just been introduced by the salary board and will require more research and discussion. But longevity pay has outlived its purpose and moving to merit pay is a common sense change that deserves public support.