City workers may get 2.5 percent hike (07/03/07)

A 2.5 percent salary increase was proposed for all city employees and elected officials Monday at the Portland City Council meeting.

Council members approved the first reading for the ordinance setting salaries for elected officials and took the ordinance for all other city employees under advisement and plan to discuss it again at their July 16 meeting.

Board members voted to wait to vote after councilman Glen Bryant requested more time to go over the packet of salaries and hourly rates for city employees.

The employee payroll ordinance sets salaries and wages for city street, park, water, wastewater, fire and police department heads and employees, city attorney, and employees of the mayor's office, city court and the clerk-treasurer's offices.

The increase will take the mayor's salary to $43,755.66 from $42,688.36 and the salary of the clerk-treasurer to $42,985.28 from $41,936.70.

A portion of the mayor, clerk-treasurer and council members' salaries come from water and sewage utility funds.

City council members will make $3,377.62, up from $3,295.23, and city court judge will earn $12,997.14, an increase from the current pay of $12,680.20.

Portland Mayor Bruce Hosier told the board that there has been a total of a 10 percent in salary increases approved over the past three years.

The federal minimum wage will increase to $5.85 an hour on July 24, then will jump to $6.55 per hour July 24, 2008.

In other business, board members approved a tax abatement on $419,000 in new equipment for Performance Tool. This project will add three jobs to the 24 employees currently working at the Portland business.

This abatement was approved by the Portland Tax Abatement Advisory Committee on June 26.

Tax abatements allow companies to pay taxes on new investments in increasing increments over several years.

Also, board members approved tax abatement compliance forms for all but one of the 17 companies which have current tax abatements.

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Board members voted to accept all of the abatements except an abatement approved by the council in 2006 for a new can line at Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. The company currently has a total number of employees less than it projected when it applied for the abatement.

Jay County Development Corporation administrative assistant Jodi Scott said following Monday's meeting that the decrease of employees at Coca-Cola was due to several delivery operations being moved from the Portland plant to a Richmond location.

Councilman Jim Sanders told the board that he voted for an abatement that added 12 new jobs and would like to find out more information from Coca-Cola about its employment plans before approving the compliance form.

Companies that were found to be in compliance include Accelerated Curing, CIDA Properties doing business as Moser Engineering, Createc Corporation, FCC (Indiana), Alphabet Inc.-Portland Division, Fortco Plastics, Inc., Fullenkamp Machine, International Paper, Joyce Dayton Corporation, KORSM Inc., Pennville Custom Cabinetry, Portland Economic Development Corporation, Portland Forge, Stoneridge Inc. Alphabet Division, Tyson Mexican Original and W& M Manufacturing.

The council must approve the compliance forms annually.

In other business, council members:

•Heard that bonds issued in 1993 for construction of the water plant were paid off in June. The early pay-off of the bonds, which were due in full on July 1, 2011, saved the city $537,325.62 in interest. Funds in reserve from the water operating and water debt service funds were used to make additional payments towards the bond.

•Heard Hosier announce that all right of ways agreements have been reached, allowing the Boundary Pike/Wayne Street project to move forward.

•Voted to write a letter of support for officials from the John Jay Center for Learning in Portland to apply for a United State Department of Agriculture grant to fund furnishings for the Weiler Building.

•Introduced the Portland Fire Department's newest firefighter, Chuck Denney, to council members. Denney was sworn in Monday morning by Hosier at city hall.

•Heard Hosier report that third graders from East Elementary School donated $730.16 of funds they raised through the Care and Share program for use on new and existing park equipment.

•Heard Hosier inform the board that he met with State Rep. Bill Davis (Dist. 33, R-Portland), and officials from the Indiana Department of Transportation and the governor's office on June 26 about placing a traffic light at the intersection of Votaw Street and Industrial Park Drive. He added an answer was expected soon.[[In-content Ad]]