The Jefferson City Council agreed Monday on an approach for raising employee salaries.
During a special session, the council decided to send the bill on salary raises to the city administrator and staff, asking it be finalized with total costs. It is likely the council will take a final vote on the wage increase at their regular meeting next week.
The wage increase is an effort to retain city employees from leaving for higher-paying jobs in other organizations. This year alone, the city has had an employee turnover rate of about 10 percent.
The approach agreed upon Monday, if approved, would pay employees 2.5 percent of the total average of all employee salaries. The raise would likely come out to $1,250 per employee, a figure Ward 5 Councilmember Jon Hensley said was based off of last year's numbers.
If approved, the increase would apply to all city employees, full-time and part-time, with the exception of the city administrator and police personnel covered under the Fraternal Order of Police labor agreement, which solidified a wage increase already this month.
In addition to the across-the-board increase, the plan proposed includes the following annual amounts:
• A $500 increase for each employee hired before 2019, with the ability to adjust that year in the future.
• A $1,000 increase for each employee within pay ranges 7-23.
• A $1,250 increase employees who work for the city for 15 years, a $1,750 increase for city workers of 20 years, a $2,000 increase for 25 years and a $2,500 increase for 30 years.
• A $40,000 minimum pay for 911 communication operators.
On top of each applicable amount, the council discussed in favor of paying all city workers, including police personnel, a one-time Essential Worker payment of $2,500, which would come from American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The point of the wage increase it to address employee retention. During the past four years, the city has had a turnover rate of about 8 percent. Human Resources Director Gail Strope has said the city has up to 437 employee positions. From 2019-21, 103 employees left their positions with the city.
City administrator Steve Crowell said most people who left held lower or entry-level positions.
A bill increasing all salaries by five percent was initially proposed at earlier meetings, however, it was not agreed upon by council.
"My main concern with the five percent proposal is that it really just widens the gap. Obviously if someone is making $100,000 a year it is considerably different than someone making $50,000 a year," said Hensley, who proposed the plan Monday.
He added: "A blended approach for employees at all stages of their career ... it seems that most employees that are leaving have been folks with fewer years of service. That's really where my main focus has been."