Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
City Budget Committee member Dave Holley proposed fully funding a school resource police officer while raising concerns about a $61,000 wage study that is proposed in the 2007-08 city budget Thursday evening.
The Budget Committee met Thursday to review the city’s 2007-08 General Fund and special funds proposals.
Holley questioned a line item proposing $61,000 for a wage study.
The intent of the study is to make sure that city employees are paid equitably, both internally and externally to the city organization, City Manager Craig Martin said.
He said they used to be called “comparable worth studies,” and as “horrible” as that term is, that’s essentially what the proposed study is.
One of the questions the study should answer is how the city pays in comparison to other employers and whether the city is able to recruit and retain individuals.
Internally, it would provide comparisons between police officers and Public Works employees, for example, Martin said. One carries a gun and a large responsibility, but the other also carries duties exposing him to potentially hazardous incidents.
“I’m more concerned about internal equity,” Martin said. “How much more should a cop be paid than a maintenance worker?”
“What will you do if you find someone is getting paid too much?” Holley asked.
“Pay freezes,” Martin said, adding that such freezes would be subject to negotiations with labor unions. Management pay could be cut or frozen without having to negotiate, he said.
Holley wasn’t saying he expected the study to show that city salaries are too low, “but I’ve never been a fan of these wage studies,” he said. These studies cannot compare positions in an “apples-to-apples” way. Responsibilities for different positions will vary tremendously from one population of 8,500 to another.
Yet, an employer must know this information to compete for employees, Councilor Rich Rowley said. The employer needs to know the value of the service provided by its employees.
“That’s an awful lot of money to spend for a wage study,” Holley said.
The budget proposal is based on an estimate by a nonprofit associated with the League of Oregon Cities, Martin said. If the funding were approved, it would still go out to a competitive bid process.
“If that’s a nonprofit, I hope I never see the profit side,” Holley said.
Rowley asked what the issue is if the city did not complete a wage study.
“The union has been asking for a wage study,” Martin said.
Internally, he said, the city needs to find out whether pay is comparable based on duties.
The idea of the wage study began when salary indexes became invalid in 2003, Martin said. The city adjusted pay schedules recently for non-represented employees, proportionately balancing them with each other.
With a change in retirement benefits and a management pay freeze, that index became invalid in 2003, Martin said. Out of that, city staff began looking at wages overall. With benefits and other factors becoming skewed, “maybe it’s time we look at that.”
With funding approved, the study itself would be subject to the council’s approval, Martin said. “This is not a subversive way of getting everybody a raise. These wage scales that we’ve got right now, I don’t know where any of them came from.”
The city would have difficulty replacing its finance director with what it pays right now, Martin said, and the city is already having problems filling building official positions.
“Right now, our wage is significantly lower,” Martin said. “My biggest fear is what if it comes back and says you’ve got to give all these guys a raise.”
Holley said he doubted if the city will get the information it’s looking for in such a study.
“You can’t compare that job to the other job that has got everything built in and getting a different wage,” he said.
School Resource Officer
“I’m probably going to ask you to spend more money,” Holley said. “This is a very needed thing. I think we should fund it regardless of what they do.”
The city should fund it up front, Holley said, and ask for a reimbursement if the district would like.
“I think it’s a shame that Sweet Home is the only city of any size in Linn County that doesn’t have this position,” Holley said.
The Budget Committee agreed to allow a possible change to the General Fund to fund the position.
General Fund
The city budget is divided into various funds, mainly including the General Fund, the police levy, the library levy and enterprise funds, such as the water and wastewater utilities.
The General Fund was discussed Thursday. Other funds will be discussed this week.
The General Fund is proposed at $3.1 million, up from $2.8 million in 2006-07, the fiscal year that ends on June 30.
Resources for the fund primarily include property taxes of $399,000, $238,000 in administrative charges to other funds and $1.074 million in franchise fees, charged to utilities that use the public right-of-way to provide their services. Franchise fees are paid by the cable, phone, power and garbage services.
The largest revenue source for the General Fund in 2007-08 is cash carried over from the 2006-07 fiscal year, approximately $1.3 million, up from $1.149 million in 2006-07. The budget proposes spending that cash carryover down to $911,000 in 2007-08.
General Fund departments include the legislative, executive, finance, community development, municipal court, parks, building program, community service programs and non-departmental expenses.
Of those, executive, finance and municipal court are increasing by $9,000 to $10,000 reflecting pay increases and a provision for cashing out vacation time. The Community Development Department is increasing from $148,000 to $175,000 with adjustments.
Parks is increasing from $97,000 to $111,000 with the addition of .10 full-time equivalent labor, pay increases and the vacation cash-out.
The building program will increase from $190,000 to $248,000 with the addition of a full-time building permit technician.
Non-departmental expenditures will increase from $546,000 to $649,000, including the $61,000 wage study, $25,000 for new carpet in City Hall and $50,000 to pave the City Hall parking lot.
The Budget Committee will meet next at 6:30 p.m. on May 2. It is scheduled to finish its review of the budget and may take action.