Pension contributions also will be increased.

Pension contributions also will be increased.
AUSTINTOWN -- The township's unionized clerical workers have signed off on a three-year deal that gives them 3 percent annual raises and increased retirement benefits.
Teamsters Local 337, involving 10 clerical workers, ratified the contract Monday, while the township's trustees voted in favor of it Wednesday.
"We're glad it's settled," said Sandy Williams, the local's steward and a clerk in the police department's record division.
Michael B. Dockry, township administrator, said the union and the township reached a settlement on wage increases through negotiation but had to employ a fact finder to resolve a dispute over retirement benefits.
Details
At the top end of the scale is the township accountant whose pay will rise from $15.66 per hour to $16.61 in 2006, Dockry said.
Pay rate for the lowest level secretary will increase from $12.90 this year to $13.68 in 2006.
Over three years, the increases will cost the township $51,000.
Employees also won an increase in the township's share of pension contributions. By state law, employees contribute 8.5 percent of their pay to the Public Employees' Retirement System, while the townships are mandated to contribute 13.35 percent.
However, the township, under the clerical local's previous contract, had been picking up 1 percent of the 8.5 percent of the employee's contribution.
The fact finder generally sided with the union in getting the town to increase the contribution to 3 percent in 2006.
Dockry said the 2 percent increase will cost the township $5,600.