SPRINGDALE — City employees will receive a bonus instead of a raise or a step increase.
The Springdale City Council voted 8-0 Tuesday to pay full-time employees a $600 bonus and a percentage of the $600 to permanent part-time employees based on the time worked in 2010.
City employees in the Public Works Department discussed Tuesday afternoon how they might spend their bonus money.
“I might go to Disneyland,” joked Troy Flood. “Really, I’ll use it to pay bills.”
“I’ll pay bills,” said Eugene Burton, “but first I’ll buy a rib eye steak.”
Eric Carter said he would buy a laptop computer. Larry Lawson plans to buy an air conditioner for his bedroom window. James Carpenter said he needs new glasses.
“I’ll save it to pay my taxes,” said Tim Burton.
The bonus is the equivalent of a 1.6 percent pay increase, although the bonus is for 2011 only and will not carry over next year.
The bonus for a newly hired maintenance worker in the Parks and Recreation Department would be the equivalent of a 2.5 percent raise. For the highest paid department heads, the bonus would be comparable to a 0.7 percent raise.
The council held two committee meetings to discuss the bonus. Employees asked the council to consider a cost of living raise or step increase, either for this year or in the 2012 budget.
The city gave a step increase in 2010, a bump in pay to reflect an employee’s extra value because of a year’s experience. A step increase averages about 4 percent to 5 percent raise, Morgan said.
In 2008, employees received at 2 percent raise. In 2009, employees did not receive any pay increase in the budget.
Monday, during a council committee meeting, city workers said Springdale’s population increase would bring in nearly $1 million in a full year from increased county sales taxes and state turnback funds. The city will take in an estimated $800,000 in 2011, with the change coming after the first of the year.
Revenue projections predict the city will receive an additional $132,000 from Washington County sales taxes, $175,000 in Benton County sales taxes and $29,000 in turnback money over the projections in the 2011 budget. The increased revenue totals $336,000.
Those increases do not make up for the drop Springdale has seen in its city sales taxes, Morgan said.
In 2006, city sales taxes totaled $12.5 million, he said. In 2010, the collections fell to $9.6 million.
“We’ve also seen a drop of about $1 million in revenue from building permits,” Morgan said.
The bonus will cost the city about $294,000, said Wyman Morgan, city director of administration and financial services. The estimated payroll cost for the city in 2011 is $18.6 million, Morgan said.
The city has 473 authorized full-time and part-time positions, Morgan said, although the actual number of permanent employees is less because of open jobs. In 2008, the number of employees was 485, he said.
The Washington County Quorum Court plans to give full-time employees a $500 bonus and $250 to part-time workers. Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan announced in March city employees would receive a $500 bonus.