FAYETTEVILLE -- City employees will start seeing larger paychecks April 3 if the City Council approves a compensation plan proposed by Mayor Lioneld Jordan.
"The staff takes care of this city," Jordan said following a council meeting Tuesday. "I think we, in turn, need to take care of them."
Council Agenda
The City Council is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 219 of the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St. Also on the agenda:
• Five contracts totaling $10.6 million for the first phase of a regional park in southwest Fayetteville.
• Allocating $6.3 million in hotel, motel and restaurant tax-backed bonds to renovate the Walton Arts Center.
• Selling 1.2 acres along Old Wire Road to help defray the city’s cost of expanding Gulley Park.
• Rezoning 21.6 acres north of the Fayetteville Boys & Girls Club.
• Rezoning 2.5 acres northwest of Maine Street and Cross Avenue.
• Authorizing the Parks and Recreation Department to apply for a grant to help build three sections of boardwalk on the Lake Fayetteville nature trail.
• Fourteen vehicle purchases totaling $702,000.
Source: Staff report
The mayor's plan is expected to cost about $1.4 million for the remainder of the year and $1.8 million in future years.
Most employees, including police officers, will see average 3.75 percent pay increases. That's equivalent to one "step" for police personnel.
Most police officers and firefighters receive fixed step increases each year, whereas non-uniformed employees' increases are based on performance reviews.
Firefighters are set to receive a two-step increase in 2015, because they didn't get a step increase in 2013.
Employees in the Police and Fire departments must work for the city for at least a year to earn raises. Employees who get merit raises have to be on board for at least six months.
In total, 678 full- and part-time employees are eligible for raises.
Jordan's compensation plan doesn't shift salary ranges, meaning starting salaries for all positions will remain at 2014 levels.
Missy Leflar, human resources director, said salary ranges are typically adjusted every four years as the result of salary survey. The last shift came in 2013.
A salary survey at that time, done by Management Advisory Group of Woodbridge, Va., concluded Fayetteville workers earned about 1.14 percent less than employees in 25 peer cities.
Fire Department wages lagged in particular. Firefighters received 11.4 percent raises as a result of the survey. They didn't receive a step increase at the time.
Employees at the top of their pay ranges aren't eligible for raises under Jordan's plan. Instead they'll receive one-time "service awards" averaging 3.75 percent.
Percentage-wise, Fayetteville's raises are larger than Washington County's or the other three largest cities in Northwest Arkansas.
Bentonville approved a 1.7 percent across-the-board, cost-of-living adjustment for 2015. According to Ed Wheeler, Bentonville's human resource manager, employees were also eligible for raises based on performance reviews. Those raises averaged 1.3 percent.
In Rogers, anyone who earned above $50,000 got a 2 percent pay increase, according to Thomas Dunlap, the city's human resources director. Employees earning less than $50,000 received a $1,000 flat raise.
Springdale employees received step increases amounting to about $1 million in 2015. Gina Lewis, Springdale's human resources director, didn't respond to a request for more detailed information Tuesday.
In Washington County, employees who had worked for the county for at least a year got 2 percent raises, Lindsi Huffaker, human resources director, said.
Monthly Social Security checks increased by 1.7 percent in 2015, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration.
Fayetteville officials intend to pay for this year's pay raises with surplus money from the 2014 budget -- money that otherwise would go into general fund reserve.
According to Paul Becker, Fayetteville finance director, the surplus came from lower-than-budgeted expenses -- not from revenue growth. Sales tax collection, at $30.6 million in 2014, fell $20,000, or roughly 0.06 percent, last year compared to what was budgeted.
"I really want to thank the staff, because we wouldn't be able to have this discussion today without their activity," Don Marr, the mayor's chief of staff, said Tuesday.
"Whenever we go toward the end of the year, we ask people to not have a philosophy ... about, 'Spend your money or you'll lose it,'" Marr added. "We ask ourselves what we need to spend and if we can get by for another year with a piece of equipment or less purchases or use a pen until all the ink is gone."
City officials plan to keep $11 million in reserve after using some of the surplus money to pay for raises. Of that, $6.5 million is supposed to be held as 60 days' worth of operating expenses, leaving $4.5 million available.
NW News on 02/25/2015