City officials said Tuesday they are tackling the "sacred cow" of 48 city employees who get paid every week, while for the other 2,500 employees it is every two weeks.
Joda Thongnopnua, the mayor's chief of staff, said it was planned to pay $750 "transition supplements" to those employees to compensate for "a temporary interruption in their pay cycle" on moving to the two-week method.
However, the City Council did not go along with a resolution to spend up to $36,000 on the payments. Councilman Isiah Hester made a motion to approve the payments, but no one seconded the motion.
Mr. Thongnopnua said there had been "foot-dragging by prior administrations" on making the move, but he said the city personnel office has to spend as much time processing the pay of the 48 as it does for the other 2,500.
The City Council was also told that the city has discovered that at least five employees were mistakenly overpaid - some by as much as $10,000 - during the implementation of the 2021 pay plan and later classification appeals process.
Brent Goldberg, chief financial officer, said some data "was loaded wrong in the system."
He said the city is continuing to investigate the matter.
Mr. Goldberg said the city cannot simply forgive the overpayment due to its obligation to taxpayers, but he said the council might have that ability.
He said the city is committed to working with the employees on repayment, including use of accumulated Paid Time Off at a 100 percent level and withholding of amounts over an extended time.
Councilwoman Jenny Hill said several lower-paid employees were caught up in the city's "snafu" and "cluster of mistakes."
She said of the affected employees, "They did not do anything wrong." She said in at least one case a fellow office worker with less seniority wound up making more than one of the affected employees.
Councilwoman Hill said use of the PTO funds would be costly to the employees, saying that is "part of their overall retirement."
She said, "This is very real damage that the city has done to these folks."
In the light of the overpayment to some employees, Councilwoman Hill and Councilman Chip Henderson said they had difficulty with giving the $750 supplements to those being shifted to a different pay period.
In other action, the council approved an RFP going out in relation to the conversion of the Airport Inn on Lee Highway for affordable housing. The RFP asks for a developer for the project and for providing supportive services.