Published: September 22, 2009 12:02 am      

Jeffersonville pay increases up to 3.8 percent get OK on second reading

Ordinance faces one more vote

City employees got closer to pay increases Monday night, as the Jeffersonville City Council approved the second reading of a salary ordinance.

The ordinance would apply to more than 150 city employees — not including unionized police officers and firefighters — and allows room for 3.8 percent increases. Not every employee would necessarily receive such a raise; the increases would be doled out by department heads based on merit.

The ordinance is not a done deal yet, as it still faces one more vote.

Before passing the measure Monday night, council members pondered its feasibility, considering that property tax revenues are less than expected this year. The ordinance would apply to next year.

Councilman Ron Grooms, who heads the city’s budget and finance committee, noted that the state gives municipalities until Sept. 30 to enact the ensuing year’s ordinance. He also said that residents have approached him questioning whether the city could afford the raises.

The number 3.8 came on a suggestion from mayor Tom Galligan — it’s the percentage that the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance typically allows a city to increase its maximum tax levy.

Based on 2009, Grooms said Jeffersonville’s tax levy likely would be reduced.

“The greater deficit you have, the greater deficit you have to overcome,” he said. “I expect more of the same for 2010.”

Councilman Mike Smith asked whether the 3.8 percent was a gamble,

“I think it’s the max we can consider,” Grooms said.

He noted it could still be lowered or brought back to zero should the need arise. The final reading of the ordinance is expected before the end of the month.



In other business

• The council gave final approval to a separate salary ordinance that creates six new jobs in the city’s wastewater department. That ordinance allows the department to make a formerly part-time electrician a full-time employee and hire an office manager, geographic information system coordinator and engineering coordinator. It constitutes $249,000 in new annual spending.

At a meeting last week, Utility Director Len Ashack said the new positions are needed because the city is required to meet new standards after signing an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The agreement relates to the elimination of combined sewer overflows, which carry untreated sewage into the Ohio River during heavy rains, violating the U.S. Clean Water Act.