Bus System Employee Raises On Hold

— Raises for Ozark Regional Transit employees remain in question after the approval of the organization’s 2011 budget.

The transit board of directors approved the budget Thursday but with the provision no raises be given until its executive committee examines pay scales and makes recommendations. The board approved the budget, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, during a meeting at the Rogers City Council Chambers.

The budget, with projected revenue and expenses balanced at $2.6 million, included a 5 percent allowance for employee raises.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has to approve the budget before it goes into effect, said Phil Pumphrey, the system’s executive director.

Any raises would probably not be given across the board, but would be based on performance, Pumphrey said.

“We are still trying to bring our drivers up to market rate,” Pumphrey said. “It’s not fair to our employees to stop the process to get them to market value.”

A driver with the transit system begins at $9.50 per hour, Pumphrey said, with the system providing training for any needed certifications, such as a commercial drivers’ license. The beginning rate was $6.75 per hour in 2002 when the system started bumping up the pay to reduce a large turnover rate and boost the safety record, he said.

Bob McCaslin, Bentonville’s mayor and member of the transit board, said he could not support a budget that included raises.

“We don’t have the resources to bring the employees up to par,” McCaslin said.

An informal study showed drivers for the transit system are paid as much as 20 percent less than comparable jobs in cities and counties that are members of the board, said Jim McCulloch, assistant general manager of finance and maintenance for the system.

The system staff needs to provide data to support any raises, said Don Marr, a board member representing Fayetteville. Marr is the chief of staff for Mayor Lioneld Jordan.

“It sounds like you have the numbers to support the budget,” Marr said. “I just need to see the data. You didn’t provide it.”

Madison County Judge Wes Fowler, transit board chairman, asked to have an executive committee meeting before October to review the pay scale and comparable pay rates in local cities.

Members of the board are representatives from Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale, as well as Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties.

The board also approved awarding contracts for construction of a bus canopy and replacement of a fence at the transit system’s headquarters in Springdale. The construction will be paid by federal stimulus fund grants.

Saturday service will end in September, Pumphrey said, when another stimulus fund grant runs out.

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BY THE NUMBERS

Ozark Regional Transit Saturday Service

Month Passengers

October 27

November 32

December 126

January 155

February 228

March 228

April 264

May 342

June 343

Total 1,745

Source: Ozark Regional Transit

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