Pay raise debate continues as St. Clairsville council calls special meeting

ST. CLAIRSVILLE - St. Clairsville City Council continues to disagree on a 3% pay increase ordinance for non-elected and nonunion employees.

On Monday evening, Councilman Mike Kasper made a motion to bring a tabled ordinance that would provide all non-elected and nonunion employees with a 3% pay increase back for discussion.

Council members Kasper, Kristi Lipscomb and Lucien Murzyn voted in favor of discussing the pay increase, while council members Mike Smith, JC Thrash, Don Vincenzo and Audrey Brahler voted against bringing the tabled ordinance back.

Kasper said council owes it to employees to resolve the issue because it has been weighing whether to provide the increase.

Mayor Kathryn Thalman added that she believes approving a cost-of-living adjustment, which would be the 3% increase, would improve employee morale.

"I can tell you, it is affecting morale, and I was shocked. Everyone is still doing 150 percent of what they’re supposed to do. And the fact that the charter says the cost of living expense should be addressed when the budget is looked at in January. We’re now into August. It’s been a long time," Thalman said. "I’m just respectfully telling you that there is a certain urgency because, like I said, it’s doing some stuff to morale. I feel like it’s not a raise; it’s an adjustment. It’s something because of inflation that almost every employee gets."

She added that council has recently discussed the possibility of building a new city building and said she would like to see the same employees working there.

"We’ve got a winning team, and I don’t want to lose anybody," Thalman said.

Brahler said she opposes the pay increase because she believes council needs to create legislation establishing a pay scale for all non-elected and nonunion employees before approving a 3% increase across the board.

"Across the board, the pay rates right now are unfair in the sense that some people are being paid higher than what their position calls for and some are being paid lower. I’m currently against the 3% because a 3% raise for somebody who’s at the top of their pay scale is getting a considerably larger raise than somebody who’s at the bottom of their pay scale. It’s still just leaving employees that deserve to be paid more behind," Brahler said. "So it is my opinion that we need to get a pay scale set first, get everybody within that pay scale to the correct pay, and then if we were to do an across-the-board raise at that time, whether it be cost of living or a raise in general, everybody’s base pay at that point would be on equal ground."

She added that council needs to get all non-elected and nonunion employees onto the same pay scale before increasing salaries to create a level playing field.

Thalman said she believes the disagreement is based on whether the increase is viewed as a raise or a cost-of-living adjustment.

"A pay raise, obviously, is often based on merit. We want to adjust their pay to reflect additional responsibilities. But a cost-of-living adjustment is something that so many employees get and employers acknowledge that the cost of living has gone up because of the cost of fuel, food and other commodities, so it’s something to try to help you keep up with inflation," Thalman said.

Resident Barbra Guest addressed council during the public forum portion of Monday's meeting.

"I just wonder where you’re getting the money for all this stuff. I know our budget at our house is limited. I can’t afford the utility charges that are going up. I can’t afford the taxes that are going up, and yet you’re giving pay raises to people who I’m sure deserve it. But I don’t have any more money to give you guys for property taxes," Guest said. "You need to start working within the budget. I know in our house, if I have to pay this bill that keeps going up, I have to do without something and it’s usually medicine or groceries because there’s not much else that we can get rid of."

Thalman replied that she would not feel the city was being fiscally responsible if it could not provide the increases because the city has been smart with its finances.

"We have got substantially more in the bank than before I started, and we have saved a lot of money by not hiring big contractors unless something is out of the scope of our team," Thalman said. "I’m very proud of the fact that we have been able to save some money and I would not ask, other than the fact that I know we can do this without causing hardship."

Kasper added that council needs to resolve the issue before its next regular meeting Aug. 17.

"This has to be dealt with, it’s time for all of this to end," Kasper said.

He then called for a special council meeting Thursday at 6 p.m. so council can make a final decision after months of debate.

Council unanimously agreed to hold the special meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in council chambers.