Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council approved a resolution proposing the re-designation of the Sweet Home Enterprise Zone, an area including Sweet Home that can provide tax breaks for businesses that locate in the area.
The council held a public hearing on the zone during its regular meeting on March 27.
Final approval for the enterprise zone is given by the director of the State Economic and Community Development Department.
The enterprise zone remains in place for 10 years. Sweet Home’s was first approved in 1986 and then again in 1996.
John Pascone, president of the Albany Millersburg Economic Development Corporation, will submit the application on behalf of Sweet Home.
The enterprise zone is one of 55 in the state and includes all of Sweet Home, an area west of the city along Highway 20 and an area near Halsey, including a Georgia Pacific mill.
In exchange for locating or expanding into an enterprise zone, eligible businesses receive total exemption from the property taxes normally assessed on new plant and equipment for at least three years and up to five years in the basic program. Eligible businesses are usually non-retail.
The Chamber of Commerce and Sweet Home Economic Development Group sent letters supporting the renewal of the zone.
“Recent successes with the Lowe’s Distribution Center in Lebanon and the PepsiCo facility in Albany may signal an upturn in our area’s fortune and economy, which Sweet Home might be able to take advantage of and benefit from,” said Carlene Erickson, chamber executive director.
Enterprise zone benefits were both part of Lowe’s and PepsiCo’s decisions to locate in Linn County, Pascone told the council.
“With the current housing growth, we anticipate business growth as well,” Erickson said. “Both established business and new would benefit with the continuation of the enterprise zone. There may be some exciting projects on the horizon that probably would not occur without enterprise zone benefits.”
“Sweet Home is currently experiencing a growth spurt, and our organization whole-heartedly supports the opportunity for new businesses in the near future,” SHEDG President Ron Moore said, echoing with Erickson’s comments.
In other business, the council:
– Approved a salary adjustment for non-represented employees. Most of the positions will receive increases of approximately $50 to $100 per month to the top steps of their salary schedules. Positions include the city manager, police chief, Public Works director, finance director, Community Development director, police sergeants, maintenance superintendents and senior staff engineer.
Three positions will receive more substantial increases to their top steps, including the library director, $512; the city manager’s administrative assistant, $487; and the Public Works administrative assistant, $342.
Two positions receive no changes in salary, including the jail commander and police administrative clerk.
The council approved a resolution in 1999 that placed specific percentage differences between employees and those who supervise them, called salary differentials. In 2003, the city picked up police officers’ Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) contributions, which should have triggered the council revisiting the resolution. The salary differentials were only valid as long as retirement contributions remained the same.
Preparing for labor negotiations earlier this year, management staff discovered they needed to look at the non-represented salary schedule.
The resolution approved by the council last week is the same concept as the 1999 resolution, Finance Director Pat Gray said. In 2004-05, non-represented employees did not receive a raise, further separating compensation levels from those outlined in the 1999 resolution.
This new resolution is supposed to correct that, catching non-represented employees up, she said. For example, the police chief is supposed to receive 25 percent more than the department’s sergeants who make 21 percent more than police officers.
Those employees who are at their top step will not necessarily stay at the top step, Gray said. They will be placed on whatever step is just above what they make now. For example, the library director is at step five, the top step on the schedule. With a $512-per-month increase on the top step, she will probably end up on the third step, netting a smaller raise.
With a good evaluation, employees move up approximately one step per year.
The salary changes will be retroactive to Jan. 1.
In the meantime, the city will need to complete a wage study, internally and externally, to address additional questions about salary equity, Gray said.
That will cost about $60,000 and will be requested in this year’s budget proposal.
– Will receive two options from the Administration and Finance Committee about how to appoint new Planning Commission members. The council will decide, most likely at its next meeting, whether to expand its written application with pertinent questions or use an interview process.
– Announced a Planning Commission vacancy. Contact City Hall at 367-8969 for information about how to apply.
– Appointed Harvir Singh Grewal, eighth grade, to the Sweet Home Youth Advisory Council. He will fill the Sweet Home Junior High School at-large position.
– Approved stop signs at Alder and 10th streets and at Cessna and Airport streets.