At least one council member has come out in opposition to raises and improved benefits for Signal Mountain employees intended to make the town more competitive with other area communities.
Councilman Chris Howley outlined his position in an April 29 memo to Boyd Veal, which the town manager forwarded to all council members.
Although “I know this will not make me popular with the staff, ” Councilman Howley wrote, he cannot support the sizable increases contained in the proposed 2015-16 budget for a variety of reasons.
First, Councilman Howley said in his memo, “Since health expenses have increased so significantly I do not believe it fair to push the majority of that burden (or any burden) solely (100 percent) on the Town and taxpayers. I believe that we should consider increasing the employee’s participation in the health plan.
‘I believe the employee participation rate should be increased to 20 percent and the town pay the majority or 80 percent of the insurance premium,” he continued.
“I also strongly suggest looking at sending the employees to the Affordable Care Act (ACT) or possible self-funding health in the future.”
Second, Councilman Howley said he does not support the relatively small raise the budget contains for members of the police department, which has significant employee turnover problems, compared to workers in other departments where turnover is not an issue.
“When we discussed a payment plan we discussed a 5.0-percent increase, ” he wrote. “I am firmly behind increasing our police pay to eliminate or at a minimum greatly reduce the turnover rate for police. I also agreed with the conceptual changes to the pay scale you presented. I could stomach pay increases in the rage of 5.0 percent for fire and police.
“I am not aware of a turnover issue with any other department and could not agree to a more than 3.0-percent increase in pay (where warranted) for the other departments. Pay increases over those amounts just don’t exist in the real world and I would never have a legitimate answer to give the public. Our employees receive 90 percent/10 percent health care, retirement and we have had very little turnover in any area except police and maybe fire that I am aware of. ”
On another topic, Councilman Howley said he cannot support the proposed budget unless it includes money for a school resource officer at Signal Mountain Middle High School.
"If there are not funds budgeted for an SRO in case the county does not come through on their obligation I cannot in good faith support the budget," he said in the memo. "You do not have to list it as SRO funds but we need to have enough in the budget if (County Commissioner) Jim Fields and the county do not come through on their promise to fund this position. I do not agree we should be but the position is way too important to leave unfilled."
Following is a large excerpt from Councilman Howley’s memo:
April 29, 2015
To: Boyd Veal
From: Chris Howley
Re: 2015-2016 Town of Signal Mountain Budget
Boyd:
The following are my concerns with the current Town Budget as presented. The items listed below represent solely my opinion and not the opinions of any other Council Member. I will not be able to support the budget in its current form.
1) The additional HRA cost need to be dividing into the departments that they represent. We (The Town) are contributing for the employees into this fund therefore it is clearly a benefit to our Town Employees. To appropriately assess the financial performance of each area we oversee those cost need to be included in the benefit section of that particular department which the cost is represented.
2) Since health expenses have increased so significantly I do not believe it fair to push the majority of that burden (or any burden) solely (100%) on the town and taxpayers. I believe that we should consider increasing the employee’s participation in the health plan. I believe the employee participation rate should be increased to 20% and the town pay the majority or 80% of the health insurance premium. I also strongly suggest looking at sending the employees to the ACA or possible self-funding health in the future.
3) When the pay plan was presented to us it gave us average rates and pay scales rates for both police officers and firemen. When we discussed a payment plan we discussed a 5.0% increase. I am firmly behind increasing our police pay to eliminate or at a minimum greatly reduce the turnover rate for police. I also agreed with the conceptual changes to the pay scale you presented. I could stomach pay increases in the rage of 5.0% for fire and police. I am not aware of a turnover issue with any other department and could not agree to a more than 3.0% increase in pay (where warranted) for the other departments. Pay increases over those amounts just don’t exist in the real world and I would never have a legitimate answer to give the public. Our employees receive 90%/10% health care, retirement and we have had very little turnover in any area except police and maybe fire that I am aware of.
4) The Revenue that is collected from the specific school tax voted in should be accounted for separate from general funds simply because it cannot be used for anything but school bond repayment. Any other way of representing it does not seem to me to show the transparency that we owe our tax paying citizens. We need to be held to the highest level of transparency.
5) If there is not funds budgeted for an SRO in case the County does not come through on their obligation I cannot in good faith support the budget. You do not have to list it has SRO funds but we need to have enough in the budget if Jim Fields and the County do not come through on their promise to fund this position. I do not agree we should be but the position is way too important to leave unfilled.
6) Please double check our total vehicle inventory and make sure all vehicles are on that list and make sure that all the vehicle are on the replacement plan. I would also like to know if you believe The Town owns and maintains too many vehicles. If we do, we are wasting tax payer money.
I have prepared and presented a summary spreadsheet at our last meeting that shows the following:
There are eight departments that will be receiving more than 5.0 percent wage increases if this budget is approved. There are with greater than 10.00 percent wage increases. None of these that I am aware of have a turnover issue. The only one I would accept with 10.0% or greater would be the police as it is needed to get us up to where we need to be.
In addition to that we are increasing taxes and benefits by more than 16.00 percent across the board. This results in a net 11.45 percent across the board increase in wages, benefits and taxes.
No I know this will not make me popular with the staff but for a one year over year increase in per FTE cost to increase by 11.45 percent I cannot support. In addition the per FTE cost for the police, which was the trouble area it is only 2.41 percent.
Boyd:
I think you are doing an excellent job. With sales tax dollars declining and property taxes estimates remaining a little better than neutral I cannot support this level of increase. This is just my opinion on the matter.