Mamula chimes in on raises as Struthers council OKs plans

The mayor says more equitable raises are possible.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
STRUTHERS -- City council approved several ordinances Wednesday granting pay raises to most city employees, but the mayor says he may veto some of the legislation.
Mayor Dan Mamula doesn't object to giving employees raises. He said, however, that in some cases, the raises should be higher and, in his opinion, more equitable.
In the budget Mamula prepared for fiscal 2004, he proposed granting 3-percent raises to all department heads, nonelected full-time and part-time employees. "Per the mayor's recommendation, we started with 3-percent raises for full-time nonelected employees," said Daniel R. Yemma, chairman of the finance and legislation committee.
Determining raises
Then, in an attempt to "even out" the dollar amount each employee will receive, Yemma said council took 1.5 percent of the median salary for department heads and added or subtracted various amounts to that figure to determine their raises.
Amounts added to or subtracted from the 1.5 percent of the median, Yemma explained, were determined by the difference between each department head's base salary and the median. If their base salaries were more than the median, their raises were higher; less than the median, their raises are less than 1.5 percent.
The annual raises for all employees, Yemma said, average $640 and range from $555 to $850. Under the legislation, the superintendent of the sewage plant -- the highest paid employee in the city, Yemma noted -- will receive the $850 raise.
In some instances, the raises department heads will receive under the legislation are less than the raises some of the full-time nonelected employees will receive. The tax commissioner, who earned $36,991 in 2003, would earn $37,546 -- a $555 raise.
What mayor opposes
The disparity in who gets how much is what Mamula opposes.
In 2002, when other employees received a 4-percent pay raise, the mayor said, the base salary for the safety service director, police and fire chiefs was frozen because the city couldn't afford to grant them raises. Now, when money is available -- receipts in the city's general fund are up $244,000 over this time last year -- those who didn't get raises last time are being slighted again, he said.
Like the mayor, Safety Service Director John Sveda vehemently opposed the manner in which raises for department heads were determined. Sveda told council that he would welcome a wage freeze for himself if they would use the raise they had planned for him to grant his department heads larger raises.
Sveda earned $47,017 in 2003; the current legislation increases his salary to $47,722.
The mayor also voiced his displeasure at being "left out of the loop" while council was formulating the plan for determining raises. "I was never consulted about the department head raises," Mamula said. "Something more equitable could be done without being irresponsible."
"I could veto the legislation," he said. "They could override it. Or, we can sit down and talk."
kubik@vindy.com