NON-UNION WORKERS TO SEE 2% PAY RAISE

Wednesday December 28, 2011

NORTH ADAMS -- Non-union city employees will see a 2 percent raise in their pay effective Jan. 1.

In a 6 to 3 vote, the City Council passed an ordinance amending the city's compensation plan at their Tuesday night meeting. City Councilors Ronald Boucher, Marie Harpin and Alan Marden were the dissenting votes.

The decision to adopt Alcombright's proposal for a 2 percent raise for all non-union city employees didn't come without controversy. At one point, Alcombright and Boucher got into a heated exchange about Alcombright not polling city employees as to how they'd like to get their pay raises -- the 2 percent raise effective Jan. 1, 2012 or a 1 percent raise effective retroactively from July 1, 2011 followed by another 1 percent raise effective Jan. 1, 2012. Councilor Alan Marden also expressed his displeasure with the poll -- the result of a Finance Committee meeting on Monday, Dec. 19 -- not being conducted.

City councilor-elect and former Mayor John Barrett III continued to advocate for a 1 percent raise retroactive from July 1, 2011 followed by the other 1 percent taking effect Jan. 1, 2012.

He also took issue with the salaries of some of the city's newer employees and their being included in a 2 percent across-the-board raise.

"I don't think it's fair that any employee who has been here less than five years receives these type of raises," Barrett said.

He asked the City Council to delay adopting

Alcombright's proposal until members could look at it more thoroughly.

Alcombright said the proposal had been looked at ad nauseum.

"We're trying to do something here that is efficient and will allow employees to have their increase," he said.

The two percent raise would impact 84 employees -- 61 who are full-time and 23 who are part-time -- and cost $24,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year.

In other business, State Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams, updated the City Council on her efforts to solicit state funding in helping communities in the First Berkshire District cover the cost of repairs undertaken in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene.

While funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover 75 percent of those repairs, cities and towns would have to pay the remaining 25 percent, she said.

"Our district is really hard pressed to come up with the remaining 25 percent in these tough economic times. We've lost so much of the population and there are less people to pay our taxes," she said.

She said Rep. Brian Dempsey, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has informed her that a supplemental state budget is likely to be proposed in January, and he will consider Tropical Storm Irene damage repair funding requests for communities in the First Berkshire District.

"I'm going for the whole 25 percent," she said.

Prior to Cariddi's presentation, the City Council authorized the city to borrow $2.2 million to pay for repairs resulting from Tropical Storm Irene.

Source: http://www.thetranscript.com/headlines/ci_19629544?source=rss

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