Salary Ordinances Hot Topic For Common Council
WARSAW — Actions by members of the Warsaw Common Council will result in department heads possibly making less money than those they oversee. The five-month 40-minute efforts of Diane Quance, board president and the late Charlie Smith, who worked on the salary ordinance, was not accepted by four of the Warsaw Common Council members Monday evening.
The three salary ordinances: general salaries for department heads, appointed positions, salaried and non-salaried positions; Fire Territory and elected officials, all passed, but not unanimously. Councilmen Elaine Call, Cindy Dobbins, Mike Klondaris and Jerry Frush voted to adopt the ordinances, but amend that ordinance to allow all department heads no more than a 2 percent pay raise. Quance and Jeff Grose voted against.
Council members were presented wage recommendations at the July 27 meeting and given the ordinance at the Oct. 29 meeting. Adoption on the general salaries and fire territory salaries was required by last night. The salaries of elected officials was not needed until the end of the year.
Grose, who referred to the leveling of salaries to be competitive as a correction to some salaries instead of a pay increase, voiced his feelings throughout the meeting. Grose stated he has been working towards this leveling of pay for going on 16 years. “I want us to go in this direction,” he stated noting he, as a public school teacher, makes as much or more than any department head – those who manage million-dollar budgets and 20-plus employees. “It is a good faith effort to clean up (the salaries) … ” Grose stated he has gone on record as not being in favor of giving raises to anyone, but he is “sick of it,” referring to a head of a big department making only $15,000 more than a starting employee.
He pointed out for more than 14 years the city’s wages have needed adjustments and were out of whack.
He approved the efforts of the salary committee to look at public and private job descriptions and used the comparisons to create a fair and appropriate “wage correction.” He stated not approving the ordinance as presented would “take the game away from us and go back to the same ole, same ole. I don’t want do to this. Overall, this is the direction in what we need to do.”
Klondaris noted he found inequities when looking at the ordinance and excessive salary increases. “Some were too much.” He noted the county just gave its employees a 1 percent pay increase, and Social Security payments are not going up asking residents to fund raises for some positions. “Some of the salaries shocked me. I was taken aback on it.”
Dobbins agreed with Klondaris that a few department head increases “were very large to me and is of some concern.”
Call asked if there was a rationale on the police chief’s salary raising 12 percent and questioned if the agreement was that all department heads receive the same increase, 2 percent. “What I saw jolted me.” Call also disagreed, as did others, that the information presented in July did not show these figures.
Quance explained how the figures were arrived at, taking the median of two studies. Other department heads receiving more than the 2 percent increase were clerk-treasurer, police chief, human resources and wastewater treatment. Quance also stated they looked at the job, not the person.
Frush stated he had no objection to workers getting raises, but against the supervisors getting more than 2 percent.
Call noted the benefits the town is offering its employees and that 2 percent is where she stood. “I’m looking at the general fund (which is where salaries are paid from) and a lot is happening here that will affect the general fund.”
After close to 40 minutes of discussing, Mayor Joe Thallemer urged the board to make a decision. “One thing to consider is every department is set up differently. Jennifer (Whitaker, human resources) tried to use a standardized study … Charlie and Diane looked at the numbers … their decision was made by a council committee last year you asked for … it is hard to believe we’re knocking on the door and not any closer than we were … We need to get to the brass tax.”
Grose, while not agreeing, also made sure the same amendment was added to the fire territory salary ordinance and the elected official salary ordinance.