First Posted: 1/20/2015
DELPHOS — Delphos City Council decided to table a third reading of a motion for a 7.5 percent pay increase for the city’s salaried workers, including the police and fire chiefs, water, wastewater and maintenance superintendents and the safety services director.
“They’re requesting a little more time and a few pieces of information, and they’ll vote on it at the next meeting,” safety services director Shane Coleman said. “We have some issues at the wastewater treatment plant, and we’ll have a presentation on that at the next meeting, as well.”
Coleman emphasized that these are not raises, but rather a restoration of salaries back to 2010 levels. Previous budget issues had forced employees to take pay reductions.
“There’s been a little misunderstanding about that,” he said. “All salaried employees had endured a 7.5 percent wage decrease and all hourly workers were on a three-hour furlough every week, so they only worked 37 hours instead of their usual 40.”
After facing shortfalls in revenue in 2013, the city is now able to consider restoring these salaries for multiple reasons.
“We’ve seen a pretty big staff reduction from a year and a half ago,” Coleman said. “With the expansion of Lakeview Farms, we’ll see an additional increase in revenue from water and sewer, and there’s obviously some income tax involved there. Last May, there was a tax passed for the Parks and Recreation Department as well.”
Delphos City Council will vote on this legislation at its next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 2. If approved, the pay increases will take effect immediately after the meeting.
