Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home City Council is discussing whether to rescind a resolution it passed last year, that will give raises to employees not represented by unions, to help conserve funds in the 2012-13 budget.
It also plans to take a look at usage data for bulk water users who currently draw from fire hydrants with a permit to help it decide what to do with a proposed water filling station in the 2012-13 budget.
The council discussed those issues during its regular meeting on May 8.
One budget committee member had previously calculated that the raises would cost approximately $26,000, although councilors and staff members were uncertain what the actual amount would be.
Public Works Maintenance Supervisor Pat Wood reminded the council that funds saved for employees in different departments cannot necessarily be used to bolster operations in other departments, criticizing comparisons of the savings to the approximate cost of a part-time library assistant, one of which was cut in the proposed budget.
The raises are scheduled to match raises that will be granted to union-represented general city employees because of contractual obligations. The raises will add a 3-percent annual step to the salary schedule. Employees earn the raise based on a positive evaluation on the anniversary of their hire date. Police Department employees bargain separately with the city. Non-represented employees primarily include supervisors and department heads.
The water filling station, at a budgeted cost of about $130,000, is proposed to be funded by money from systems development charges and water rates reserved for capital construction. The funds must be used for expansion projects in the case of SDCs and new capital projects in the case of funds derived from utility rates.
The water utility does not at this time include charges for the capital construction fund. Neither does the proposed rate for 2012-13.
The council also discussed possible ways to cut rising insurance costs. The city pays 95 percent of insurance premiums. Employees pay 5 percent.
If the council wants to do something different with insurance benefits, said City Manager Craig Martin, it will have to bring it up in the next bargaining session.
“It’s one of the reasons they choose to work here,” Martin said. Other organizations pay more, but the insurance isn’t as good, not including spouses or family members. “They appreciate that. They look at that.”
Once the difference in insurance premiums is included, the higher wages elsewhere may not really be that high, Martin said.
“The only pay freeze you’re OK to do would be the entire group of non-represented employees,” Mayor Craig Fentiman told the council.
The raises help maintain parity with union employees and the differential in pay between employees and supervisors, Martin said.
The issues were raised by councilors and Budget Committee members during the Budget Committee process completed on May 3.
“If this was a COLA (cost-of-living adjustment), I would consider freezing that,” Fentiman said. This is merit-based, and he would oppose a freeze.
“If we had, last year, not taken $45,000 and given it to outside charities, we would be sitting in a better position than we’re sitting in right now,” Fentiman said. “My experience of 20-some years told me this was not a good idea. I understand why you guys did it. I disagreed. That’s the first time I voted against a budget in 20 years.”
Councilor Scott McKee Jr. said the committee and council approved that well before the city received tax information last fall indicating a revenue shortfall – when the council had “the fear of God put into us with the tax situation.”
When circumstances are normal, McKee said, the city should give the raises.
He said this discussion has no bearing on whether employees deserve the raises.
It’s an opportunity to save money, McKee said. Even $10,000 to $20,000 can make a difference.
That’s around the cost of roofing projects the city must complete this year at the library and the Jim Riggs Community Center, he said. “I don’t want it to be twisted around to where we’re saying employees are not doing a good job.”
“First of all, I personally struggle with increasing pay when I’m very much aware there are several entities surrounding us that have been frozen,” said Councilor Marybeth Angulo.
People are losing jobs and taking pay cuts, she said. School District employees are getting notices of reduced hours, and their pay is frozen.
“I know it’s well-deserved,” she said. “I have a very, very difficult time approving something, even when it’s just a minute portion, when people around me are struggling. I know from experience it’s a struggle. A lot of us are in that boat.”
She didn’t ask for a $2,000 pay cut, and it’s not looking good for next year either, said Angulo, who teaches at Oak Heights.
Regarding the water filling station, Councilor Greg Mahler noted that it doesn’t cost more than $10,000 to fix or replace a hydrant, while the city is looking at $130,000 for the filling station.
He realizes the funds cannot be used for law enforcement, but the city just cut a police officer and dispatcher, Mahler said.
Public Works Director Mike Adams told the council that the $130,000 is not just for a meter and backflow prevention device. It also includes a mechanism so customers can pay instantly for water as well as a small stone building, different connections, a road improvement, a turnaround and access.
The city could choose not to spend it and use it in the future on another project, Adams said. The use of the funds is “very specific” though, and he noted following the Budget Committee process that the city doesn’t have any projects on the horizon for these funds.
“We can wait for another project,” Adams said. “At some point you have to start using the money in this system to make improvements.”
He also said that when a hydrant breaks, the repair funds come from the operating budget, while this has no direct impact on the rate.
The project also helps the city meet hazard mitigation goals, Fentiman said.
“We’ve had some really good conversations, but it’s definitely not over yet,” he said, suggesting a decision Tuesday night would have been rash.
The council voted 6-0 to place the salary resolution on the agenda for May 22. The council also asked to bring information about how hydrants are being used now to provide bulk water and what it might look like with the water filling station, which Adams thinks could generate water revenue.
Present at the meeting were Angulo, Mahler, Jim Gourley, Fentiman, McKee and Mike Hall. Councilor Ron Rodgers was absent.
In other business, the council adopted ordinances revising codes for variances and preventing the burial of human remains on private property.