SALEM Council OKs pay raise for workers

Besides pay, the only other change affects the way sick leave is accumulated.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Nearly 50 city employees, including department heads, will benefit from a pay-increase package approved by city council.
Council agreed recently to an ordinance that provides a 3 percent increase retroactive to July 1 for city personnel not represented by a labor union.
The measure also sets forth increases of 3.5 percent in each of the next three years, bringing the total increase to 13.5 percent over the life of the agreement.
The pay boost will cost the city about $90,000, the city auditor's office reported.
Base annual salaries for department heads, before the raises are applied, are: Police and fire chiefs, $41,221; service director, $41,205; parks director, $29,126; and safety director, a part-time post, $7,047.
The highest annual salary affected by the recently approved pay package is that of the utilities superintendent post, which, before the raises, was $46,510.
Besides department heads, other city positions affected include supervisors, dispatchers and clerical workers.
The lowest annual salary affected by the pay package is that of a recreation supervisor, which, before the raises, was $12,982.
Also affected
Besides salaries, the new agreement also affects sick leave, altering the formula used for calculating how it is earned.
Right now, city employees earn 0.0575 hours of sick leave for each hour worked.
The new agreement boosts the per hour figure to 0.06.
All other benefits remain the same for the employees covered by the agreement.
The city continues to pay the $267 monthly premium cost of health insurance coverage for a single person.
Any employee wanting a family plan must contribute about $33 per month to the $772 monthly cost of the premium.
The city will continue to pay the entire cost of employees' contributions to their pension plans.
Also unchanged is employees' vacation benefits, which provides two weeks vacation after one year of service and a maximum of five weeks after 20 years of service.