City Council Minutes 2016 10 04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes October 4, 2016 Page 8 of 10 Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated his concern that so much of the budget is salaries and wages and it appears the revenue is not going up at the same rate of salaries and wages. City Manager Fleming stated this has been the City's general policy for nine years and the City has done this and maintained fund reserves. He stated merits and market adjustments are needed to keep the City competitive in the labor market and to fill vacancies. The City needs to stay competitive with surrounding jurisdictions. We look at the cost every year. It is not the only factor in keeping and attracting good staff members, but it is a big part of it. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton would like to know the overall cost to compensation costs (dollars and percentage) of merits and market adjustments for. Staff will provide this at a later meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton added he wants to raise the lowest paid employee's wages more in 2017 and would like to see some funding set aside for that in 2017 and 2018. Councilmember Loo stated her concern that raising lower salaries shouldn't happen without a full conversation and understanding of what those raises mean to the overall compensation plan. Councilmember Maloney and Councilmember Stolzmann agreed some funding should be set aside for raises for the lowest paid employees in 2017. Members agreed some funding should be set aside in 2017 as a place holder so raises can be given to lower end employees after Council has a broader discussion on this topic in 2017. City Manager Fleming noted additional priorities in the Program include an application support specialist, a purchasing manager, and a senior accountant. He stated these positions are needed to make the new software system work well and get good information from it to help us make better decisions. This can't be done with the current staff levels. The management team believes these positions are needed and will help all departments work more efficiently. Director Watson stated both the purchasing manager and the senior accountant will be providing new services but they will also assist staff with maintaining existing service levels. We don't have the bandwidth to maintain our current service levels without new staff. The Purchasing Manager is needed to make sure all departments are meeting our procurement processes and regulations. Councilmember Maloney asked why some of the costs for the purchasing manager position are not allocated to the Golf Fund. Director Watson stated it has been a policy decision to not charge out all overhead costs (such as the Finance Director's time, the City Manager's time, Human Resources time) to the Golf Fund until the Golf Fund is on better footing.