City leaders have given initial approval to a salary ordinance establishing pay ranges for city workers next year.
Columbus City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed the first reading of the salary ordinance, which establishes minimum, midpoint and maximum pay levels. A second vote, needed for final passage, is scheduled for Sept. 18.
The ordinance was developed from a salary compensation study that was performed by a McCordsville-based firm, Total Reward Solutions, which evaluated the salaries of city government employees, said Jamie Brinegar, city finance director.
The consultant looked at Columbus employees’ pay employee pay in the parks and recreation department, city utilities and public safety, and compared them to peer positions at similar-sized Indiana municipalities such as Anderson, Greenwood, Kokomo and Noblesville, while salary ordinances were also obtained from the cities of Bloomington, Jeffersonville, Lafayette and Terre Haute.
The city has had minimum and maximum salaries for each position, but the council has embraced the consultant’s recommendation to establish three pay steps — adding a midpoint level.
Arlette Cooper-Tinsley, human resources director for the city, previously told the council that Columbus has struggled with recruitment and retention since she was hired in 1995.
The city will look to get employees a third of the way to the midpoint next year or give them 3 percent raises, whichever is higher, depending on their overall performance evaluation, said Mary Ferdon, executive director of administration and community development.
But several city residents raised concerns about the salary ordinance, questioning the dollar amounts under the pay ranges for certain city positions.
Columbus resident Ken Fudge said he was not against pay increases or fair compensation, but said the salary ordinance shows some increases of 10 to 12 percent for some positions across minimum, midpoint and maximum pay levels. Fudge also alleged that the way the study was performed was flawed.
“The people who handled all of the interaction with the consultant for the study are the same people who stand most to gain from the results,” Fudge said, reading from a prepared statement. “The council should have independently worked with a consultant and gathered the data and drawn its own conclusions. As such, you can’t trust the data being presented to you as being unbiased.”
The city has proposed bringing 170 public safety employees to the midpoint level over the next two years, while the remainder of employees would be moved to that level over three years. That point was stressed during Tuesday’s meeting by Brinegar, who said bringing employees to the midpoint would be dependent on a person’s performance evaluation.
However, the city will work on getting 170 public safety employees to the midpoint level over the next two years, Lienhoop said.
Former Mayor Kristen Brown also spoke to the council and Mayor Jim Lienhoop, questioning the salary ordinance as well.
“How do these numbers come about?” she asked.
Columbus resident David Jones encouraged the council to take a closer look at the information in front of them.
“It feels like there’s something else driving this,” Jones said.
City Councilman Frank Miller told audience members that the salary ordinance is something new for the city
“We’re kind of breaking ground here,” Miller said. “We’re trying to be proactive.”
Brinegar said that no city employee would be placed at the maximum level under the salary ordinance. City Councilman Frank Jerome also told those in attendance that the salary ordinance was separate from the city’s budget, which is expected to be presented in October.
The council on Tuesday approved a 3 percent pay hike for elected officials next year, including Lienhoop, clerk-treasurer Luann Welmer and the seven city council members.
The salary increases for elected officials next year will cost the city a total of $6,774, Brinegar said. A year ago, the council voted to give elected officials and city employees 2 percent raises for 2018.
Lienhoop said after the meeting that some of the allegations made during the meeting were untrue, adding that some individuals didn’t understand how the process works.
“We knew we needed to have a range and we wanted to be consistent with the process,” City Councilman Tim Shuffett said. “Not everybody will get to the midpoint right away.”
He also weighed in on the comments made by members of the public during the meeting.
“I think they formed their own opinion coming into it,” Shuffett said.
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Mayor Jim Lienhoop
2017 salary: $91,687
2018 salary: $93,521 (2 percent increase)
2019 salary: $96,327 (3 percent increase)
Clerk-Treasurer Luann Welmer
2017 salary: $76,033
2018 salary: $77,554 (2 percent increase)
2019 salary: $79,880 (3 percent increase)
City council members
2017 salary: $7,668
2018 salary: $7,822 (2 percent increase)
2019 salary: $8,057 (3 percent increase)
Source: City of Columbus
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