County council used something of a delaying tactic when it decided to pay its non union staff a three per cent pay hike starting Jan. 1.
Council voted to give that pay raise after its finance committee came back with a one year recommendation instead of a 3% pay increase for each of the next three years, as it had recommended at the October council meeting. That recommendation was sent back to committee. It had included an extra week of holidays in lieu of overtime for department heads.
Councillor Dennis Lever thanked the committee for the changes it made to its recommendation, but added the committee had not completed all the tasks council had assigned.
He asked if such a pay raise “ties in with what is happening in our communities.” He said the committee had not considered how taxpayers will be affected by such pay raises.
He noted, too, council asked the committee to consider to whom county staff are compared when it comes time to consider pay raises. He said not only does the county need to consider other public sector groups, but also private sector pay levels.
Lever said he realizes such a comparison cannot be done in a month, but added he has not heard a commitment to find that information.
Finance committee chairman John Green said the warden had made a commitment at the previous meeting that the issue would be reviewed in the first quarter of 2012.
Warden Chris White said the 3% is “an inflation number” as well as “purely a cost of living change.”
He said comparisons are built into the county’s salary grid.
White noted it was ten years ago the county did pay comparisons with other counties and regions for its non union staff. He again promised the issue would be discussed in the first three months of 2012.
Councillor Don McKay noted the extra week’s holidays had been dropped from the recommendation, and pointed out union staff received a lesser increase, but members have more benefits than non union staff. He said when everything is calculated, the raises are a “comparable amount.”
Councillor Lou Maieron said a spending increase of $775,000 means a one per cent increase on the county budget, and the total pay hike is $900,000. He asked how the staff pension plan would be affected in terms of cost.
Green said the raise would cost an average of $4.17 on a tax bill, and the difference between union and non union pay increases is $150,000.
There will be an increase to benefits cost and the pension payment.
Councillor Ken Chapman said, “We cannot forget about the taxpayers’ ability to pay.”
He said the inflation rate is 2% and not 3% and last year, seniors received a cost of living of only 1%.
Chapman said seniors, with benefits added in receive $15,000 a year.
“We should look at how the taxpayer is going to pay this bill,” he said. “The people we asking to pay are not getting 3%.”
Councillor Ray Tout said the county has excellent staff, and “I’d hate to lose them for $4.17.” He said that can easily be spent at a coffee shop.
Council then approved the recommendation for a 3% increase for one year.
