Time now for city leaders to make pay raise decision

Published 5:00 am Monday, August 31, 2009

Regardless of what form they take – or if they take place at all- the question of pay raises for city employees and electedofficials is one that must be answered and answered quickly byBrookhaven’s elected leaders.

After multiple meetings, aldermen continue to bounce ideas backand forth over the controversial issue. Everything from 3 percentraises to no raises, including aldermen or not, has been considered- all with no agreement among board members.

The reason the question must be resolved is the raises’financial impact on other aspects of the budget, such as paving,equipment purchases and other needs. Those topics have beenmentioned during budget talks, but nowhere near to the extent thepay raise issue has been.

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At 3 percent, according to budget discussions, raises would takeup approximately $185,000 of additional city revenue, plus relatedretirement, FICA and other personnel expenses.

Citizens, many of whom will be helping to foot the budget billthrough taxes, have expressed their opinions on the matter inseveral ways.

Two unscientific DAILY LEADER online polls in recent weeksrevealed that almost 77 percent questioned the prudence ofconsidering pay raises during these difficult economic times. Andlast week, more than 60 percent doubted whether aldermen had theirpriorities in order when it comes to city taxpayers or cityemployees.

Furthermore, during last week’s public hearing on the budget,around 15 people – some no doubt stirred by the pay raise talk -showed up to give their thoughts and ideas. That is a considerablenumber given that budget public hearings usually attract no onefrom the general public.

Tough economic times dictate that tough choices must bemade.

Early in the budget process, aldermen acted wisely to set up aplan to reduce this year and eventually eliminate the city’s coston employees’ dependent insurance coverage. Employees and officialswill continue to have their individual insurance paid by thecity.

City leaders must again demonstrate leadership qualities on theissue of pay raises. As noted during the budget hearing, Natchezaldermen showed leadership recently by approving a 10 percentreduction in their salaries.

The salary issue is not the lone item in the budget and is notsolely about whether aldermen should be included in pay raiseplans.

But the issue does affect to a large extent on how much the citywill be able to spend elsewhere.

It appears taxpayers have voiced a strong opinion. City leadersnow have to make a choice and move on to other areas of the budgetthat need their attention.