Photo by Emma Delk From left, First Ward Councilman Don Vincenzo, Second Ward Councilman Jeff Thrash, Third Ward Councilwoman Kristi Lee Lipscomb and Fourth Ward Councilwoman Terra Butler were not able to approve the city’s 2024 budget due to a disagreement regarding a pay raise for city employees.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — St. Clairsville City Council did not approve the city’s 2024 budget Monday due to a disagreement regarding a pay increase for city staff.

A special meeting will be held Monat 7 p.m. March 25 where council members will decide whether they approve of the budget before the deadline of April 1.

During her report at Monday night’s council meeting, St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman addressed the “elephant in the room” of the budget. Thalman said that city administrative staff “need a 5% raise.”

“The 5% raise to me is the 2.5% raise the employees did not get last year and a 2.5% raise for this year,” Thalman said. “This is keeping the raise appropriate to what has been done before, which I was told when union contracts were negotiated administrative raises usually follow that.”

Thalman noted that in the “past couple of years,” city employees have brought St. Clairsville an extra $6,409,000 in value, including a $100,000 light grant for the St. Clairsville Central Park Amphitheater.

Thalman added that Director of Public Service and Safety Jeremy Greenwood has also saved the city $30,000-$40,000 in police cruisers and $50,000 on the city’s insurance.

Councilman-at-large Mike Smith responded to Thalman’s proposed pay increase that he was “not prepared to pass the budget tonight” as it was such a “big undertaking.” Before Smith would vote in favor of the budget, he expressed that he wanted to sit down and talk with city Finance Director Annette Whealdon.

“Payroll is a big part of the budget,” Smith added. “There’s stuff on various pages out of the 20 pages of the budget that need to be unpacked onto one sheet. So I have some questions for Annette regarding that.”

Thalman encouraged Smith that if there was something he needed to ask Whealdon he should “come in and talk to her,” stressing that they needed to pass the budget by the deadline of April 1.

Fourth Ward Councilwoman Terra Butler also took issue with the raise, saying that council members “had not seen anything put in front of them” regarding the pay increase.

“It’s not about anybody not deserving raises or anything,” added Butler. “I’ve always been supportive of raises for our employees and have never voted down a raise. We just don’t have the paperwork in front of us.”

“Unfortunately, the raise did not get passed last year, and I feel like we’re (city council members) getting the blame for that now,” Butler continued. “I think we’re trying to clean up a mess as tidy as possible without overkill.”

Butler elaborated that “a lot of city staff” were in attendance at the last council meeting and had expressed it was not fair they had not received last year’s 2.5% raise when the “money was in the budget” for it.

“As Annette knows, sometimes we have to move money back and forth in the budget,” Butler said. “We have to allocate and move money around to make things work, and I just don’t know how we can pass a budget with a 6% pay increase in it without having any actual paperwork in front of us to discuss the budget.”

Butler added that she was not comfortable with a 5% raise for the employees “all at one time,” and that she would prefer a 3% raise with a possibility of a further increase later in the year.

Law Director Joe Vavra clarified that although the budget would allocate a raise for the employees, “that does not mean we’re appropriating for that raise.” He explained that no employee would get a raise until a resolution or ordinance is passed.

Butler said she understood this, but added that she believes “two different employees between 2022 and 2023” had received raises without the pay increase being brought before council.

“If we are going to put the pay raise in the budget and we had no idea before raises were being given before, what you’re telling me and what has been done is conflict,” said Butler to Vavra.

Vavra responded that he understood what Butler was saying and clarified that council was discussing an “across-the-board blanket raise” for all non-union employees. He noted he had a draft ordinance prepared for the raise with the percentage of increase left blank because he “wasn’t sure what anybody was comfortable with.”

“You have to have the budget to be able to give the raise,” Vavra added. “If you give a raise but there’s no budget for it, then you will be scrambling to move funds. The two things go hand-in-hand.”

Butler responded she was glad Vavra clarified this, adding that she thought there had been some “miscommunications” regarding whether they pass the budget with a 6% or 5% raise for city employees.

Thalman responded that she was “just looking at a 5% raise,” which would put the total cost for the raise in the budget to be “about $40,000.” She noted Greenwood had saved this amount per year through insurance.

Other council members also chimed in with their opinions regarding the raise.

First Ward Councilman Don Vincenzo clarified that the 2.5% raise was “not brought up last year,” so council could not decide last year whether to pass the raise. Smith said he would favor a 2-3% raise, explaining he thought it was a “bad look” if council were to raise water rates then “turn around and give a 5% raise.”

Third Ward Councilwoman Kristi Lipscomb’s reservations regarding the raise were the same as Smith’s.She said she wants the city’s water problems to be fixed before a 5% raise is approved.

The “water problems” for St. Clairsville include the cost of replacing waterlines in the city rising from $7.5 million to $14.5 million. This price increase is due to the city’s contractor for the project raising prices for replacements after layoffs and production delays during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city is also facing a problem with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, as St. Clairsville’s water reservoir is not meeting quality standards. The EPA has been giving the city extensions on producing water for itself, while St. Clairsville is currently purchasing water from Belmont County.

“Perhaps once we get the water issue resolved once and for all then we can reexamine the raise and perhaps give another raise at the end of the year,” Lipscomb said. “I just feel like things are so uncertain right now that it feels irresponsible to do a huge increase.”

Planning and Zoning Administrator Tom Murphy wondered what would happen if no budget was adopted by April 1 due to the employee raise amount still being debated.

Council President Jim Velas responded that it would be “a nightmare,” as city employees, including the police department, would have no money appropriated for them.

“Even though the money is there, it has to be appropriated out of the budget,” Velas said. “That can’t be done until the budget is passed, so we must pass it by April 1.”

In response, Lipscomb made a motion to hold a special meeting next Monday to approve the budget. It was approved.

Thalman then questioned council members about whether they would vote to approve the budget at the next meeting if the pay raise was only 3% for city employees. Butler, Lipscomb and 2nd Ward Councilman Jeff Thrash said they would approve a 3% raise.