August 8, 2017 at 2:14 a.m.
Council punts on pay raises
Council punts on pay raises
Portland City Council punted on a decision to raise city workers’ wages at Monday night’s meeting, with about a dozen city employees present.
Council also approved a pay raise for the city’s seasonal workers, heard an update on new programs at John Jay Center for Learning and OK’d a pair of tax abatement items.
The proposed payroll ordinance for 2018 was debated between council, with two main possible percentage wage increases being discussed. Typically, the city has tried to raise city employee wages by 3 percent in the past, but the threat of potential tax revenue impact from circuit breaker tax caps and the cost of major infrastructure improvements led council to also consider a 2-percent pay raise. Geesaman encouraged council to debate the proposal, and cited an increase in employees’ insurance costs as a factor worthy of consideration.
Council member Kent McClung said he had checked the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculations on annual inflation, which pins the number at 1.6 percent.
“I researched the rate of inflation for last year and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics it was 1.6 percent. That being said I know that health insurance has gone up well above the rate of inflation, but I also like to think that health insurance is separate from what we get paid,” McClung said. “It’s two separate things, but it really does impact your paycheck.”
Judy Hedges agreed with McClung that the raise should exceed the inflation rate, but also noted that a raise above inflation shouldn’t be an annual assumption.
“I understand there’s a cost of living, but I did look at the wages that our current city employees are making. I feel they are good wages,” Hedges said. “Every year we can’t assume we’re going to give a raise … but I understand that there’s a budget. I agree with Kent, if we’re going to do the cost of living (adjustment), the research that he did did show the 1.6 (percent inflation annually).”
A 3-percent raise for city employees would cost the city an estimated $45,810.83 more in salaries in 2018 than it spent this year, and a 2-percent raise would cost the city $30,493.97.
Council member Judy Aker advocated for the 2-percent pay raise, but ultimately motioned to table the payroll ordinance decision. Her fellow council members agreed and plan to discuss it again at their next meeting at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 21.
Council did approve another payroll change, increasing wages for the city’s seasonal employees, after a back-and-forth with the city’s park board over which entity should make the decision. At council’s July 24 meeting, the decision was tabled and forwarded to Portland Park Board for a second time, to get park board’s recommendation on the proposal to increase wages for seasonal employees to $8 an hour and implement a 25-cent pay raise for each year a seasonal employee returns to work for the city.
Park board, which had already given its approval at its July 12 meeting, did not discuss the proposal at its meeting on Aug. 1. However, lifeguards have already been paid the increased rate since the start of the summer. Geesaman said the raises were by his order, and legal according to state code governing municipal executive branch decisions on pay combined with the already specified range of pay in the city’s payroll ordinance for seasonal workers. Council’s raise applies to all seasonal city employees.
Council members Bill Gibson, Michele Brewster, Don Gillespie, Aker, McClung and Hedges, absent Janet Powers, approved the proposal.
Rusty Inman, executive director of John Jay Center for Learning, updated council on a few new programs. Chief among the program changes is the startup of the center’s new manufacturing maintenance courses in partnership with Wright State University Lake Campus. The courses are designed to help address a major skills gap that exists locally and nationally with a shortage of manufacturing maintenance workers. Inman said it has long been a dream of those involved with the center to create the program, and input from local manufacturers on equipment and curriculum means the skills students learn will be directly applicable to the workplace.
“We truly believe this is going to be a regional draw,” Inman said.
The class offerings will include courses in mechanical systems, electrical systems, control systems, automated systems, welding, CNC machine maintenance and advanced manufacturing maintenance.
He also highlighted some other events hosted at the center, including the fall 2017 speaker series, starting on Sept. 7 with a three-week series called “Scientific Secrets to a Powerful Memory,” and monthly senior “Lunch and Learn” series, which focus on continued learning for the county’s older residents. The luncheon is held on the first Thursday of each month and costs $1. Those interested in reservations for either program can call (260) 726-5525 or email [email protected].
A proposal for a tax abatement on equipment replacement and facility expansion at Tyson Mexican Original was approved by council, after being approved by the tax abatement advisory council. The company plans to replace an aging heat press tortilla line, expanding output by 15 percent, and add 5,100 square feet of cold warehouse space, at a total cost of $3,973,554.
The abatement will save the company $145,000 over the next five years and will help retain 562 jobs while creating zero new jobs.
Council also approved annual compliance for the city’s 38 existing tax abatements, a mixture of five-year personal property abatements and 10-year real estate abatements. The city’s tax abatement advisory committee found that all 15 companies receiving abatements were in compliance with the initial projections submitted when their abatement was first approved.
Jay County Development Corporation executive director Bill Bradley and Mayor Randy Geesaman mentioned that they plan to make proposals in September to fine-tune the existing tax abatement approval process.
In other business, council:
•Discussed a proposal to vacate the alleyway adjacent to 804 E. High Street. Geesaman told Bob VanSkyock, the owner of the property, that he will be in touch with him in the future along with city attorney Bill Hinkle.
•Approved a request to close Main Street between Commerce Street and the western edge of the Greazy Pickle from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 16. Greazy Pickle will be hosting a benefit event for Delani Carlton, a 4-year old fighting neuroblastoma, and will feature live music, cornhole, outside activities and more.
•Hedges requested an update on the progress of work to replace water lines underneath Main Street. Geesaman said there are a few lateral lines remaining to be replaced and then the stone areas will be patched. He added that Main Street will then be fully repaved in late fall of this year or spring of 2018.
•Heard from Geesaman that the city will begin looking at different options for weathering the storm of tax revenue losses that will be brought on by a new property tax assessment formula for agricultural land, and subsequent loss of tax revenue as all other taxpayers see property tax increases and some hit their state-mandated circuit breaker tax caps. Geesaman emphasized that the Umbaugh and Associates study conducted on behalf of multiple local governmental units determined that the impact of future tax revenue losses won’t hit the city hard until 2019.
•Approved claims totaling $985,488.49.
Council also approved a pay raise for the city’s seasonal workers, heard an update on new programs at John Jay Center for Learning and OK’d a pair of tax abatement items.
The proposed payroll ordinance for 2018 was debated between council, with two main possible percentage wage increases being discussed. Typically, the city has tried to raise city employee wages by 3 percent in the past, but the threat of potential tax revenue impact from circuit breaker tax caps and the cost of major infrastructure improvements led council to also consider a 2-percent pay raise. Geesaman encouraged council to debate the proposal, and cited an increase in employees’ insurance costs as a factor worthy of consideration.
Council member Kent McClung said he had checked the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculations on annual inflation, which pins the number at 1.6 percent.
“I researched the rate of inflation for last year and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics it was 1.6 percent. That being said I know that health insurance has gone up well above the rate of inflation, but I also like to think that health insurance is separate from what we get paid,” McClung said. “It’s two separate things, but it really does impact your paycheck.”
Judy Hedges agreed with McClung that the raise should exceed the inflation rate, but also noted that a raise above inflation shouldn’t be an annual assumption.
“I understand there’s a cost of living, but I did look at the wages that our current city employees are making. I feel they are good wages,” Hedges said. “Every year we can’t assume we’re going to give a raise … but I understand that there’s a budget. I agree with Kent, if we’re going to do the cost of living (adjustment), the research that he did did show the 1.6 (percent inflation annually).”
A 3-percent raise for city employees would cost the city an estimated $45,810.83 more in salaries in 2018 than it spent this year, and a 2-percent raise would cost the city $30,493.97.
Council member Judy Aker advocated for the 2-percent pay raise, but ultimately motioned to table the payroll ordinance decision. Her fellow council members agreed and plan to discuss it again at their next meeting at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 21.
Council did approve another payroll change, increasing wages for the city’s seasonal employees, after a back-and-forth with the city’s park board over which entity should make the decision. At council’s July 24 meeting, the decision was tabled and forwarded to Portland Park Board for a second time, to get park board’s recommendation on the proposal to increase wages for seasonal employees to $8 an hour and implement a 25-cent pay raise for each year a seasonal employee returns to work for the city.
Park board, which had already given its approval at its July 12 meeting, did not discuss the proposal at its meeting on Aug. 1. However, lifeguards have already been paid the increased rate since the start of the summer. Geesaman said the raises were by his order, and legal according to state code governing municipal executive branch decisions on pay combined with the already specified range of pay in the city’s payroll ordinance for seasonal workers. Council’s raise applies to all seasonal city employees.
Council members Bill Gibson, Michele Brewster, Don Gillespie, Aker, McClung and Hedges, absent Janet Powers, approved the proposal.
Rusty Inman, executive director of John Jay Center for Learning, updated council on a few new programs. Chief among the program changes is the startup of the center’s new manufacturing maintenance courses in partnership with Wright State University Lake Campus. The courses are designed to help address a major skills gap that exists locally and nationally with a shortage of manufacturing maintenance workers. Inman said it has long been a dream of those involved with the center to create the program, and input from local manufacturers on equipment and curriculum means the skills students learn will be directly applicable to the workplace.
“We truly believe this is going to be a regional draw,” Inman said.
The class offerings will include courses in mechanical systems, electrical systems, control systems, automated systems, welding, CNC machine maintenance and advanced manufacturing maintenance.
He also highlighted some other events hosted at the center, including the fall 2017 speaker series, starting on Sept. 7 with a three-week series called “Scientific Secrets to a Powerful Memory,” and monthly senior “Lunch and Learn” series, which focus on continued learning for the county’s older residents. The luncheon is held on the first Thursday of each month and costs $1. Those interested in reservations for either program can call (260) 726-5525 or email [email protected].
A proposal for a tax abatement on equipment replacement and facility expansion at Tyson Mexican Original was approved by council, after being approved by the tax abatement advisory council. The company plans to replace an aging heat press tortilla line, expanding output by 15 percent, and add 5,100 square feet of cold warehouse space, at a total cost of $3,973,554.
The abatement will save the company $145,000 over the next five years and will help retain 562 jobs while creating zero new jobs.
Council also approved annual compliance for the city’s 38 existing tax abatements, a mixture of five-year personal property abatements and 10-year real estate abatements. The city’s tax abatement advisory committee found that all 15 companies receiving abatements were in compliance with the initial projections submitted when their abatement was first approved.
Jay County Development Corporation executive director Bill Bradley and Mayor Randy Geesaman mentioned that they plan to make proposals in September to fine-tune the existing tax abatement approval process.
In other business, council:
•Discussed a proposal to vacate the alleyway adjacent to 804 E. High Street. Geesaman told Bob VanSkyock, the owner of the property, that he will be in touch with him in the future along with city attorney Bill Hinkle.
•Approved a request to close Main Street between Commerce Street and the western edge of the Greazy Pickle from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 16. Greazy Pickle will be hosting a benefit event for Delani Carlton, a 4-year old fighting neuroblastoma, and will feature live music, cornhole, outside activities and more.
•Hedges requested an update on the progress of work to replace water lines underneath Main Street. Geesaman said there are a few lateral lines remaining to be replaced and then the stone areas will be patched. He added that Main Street will then be fully repaved in late fall of this year or spring of 2018.
•Heard from Geesaman that the city will begin looking at different options for weathering the storm of tax revenue losses that will be brought on by a new property tax assessment formula for agricultural land, and subsequent loss of tax revenue as all other taxpayers see property tax increases and some hit their state-mandated circuit breaker tax caps. Geesaman emphasized that the Umbaugh and Associates study conducted on behalf of multiple local governmental units determined that the impact of future tax revenue losses won’t hit the city hard until 2019.
•Approved claims totaling $985,488.49.
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