With traveling this far into Canada, I'm hoping to catch good views of the Northern Lights.I'm enroute to Bay James Canada for a caribou hunt, and found a place with Internet access in Greater Sudbury, Canada, about halfway to our destination. I'm taking advantage of what from the map, appears to be one of the last cities of significant size. The city is surprisingly large, with a population over 150,000.
Thanks to the Internet, I was able to log on to the Post Crescent Web site this morning and read the article regarding pay increases to the Grand Chute administrative staff. I want to make a few comments.
The proposed pay increases in the 2008 budget actually called for all non-union employees to receive a cost of living increase of 3% and two step increases on the employee pay matrix, with each step being about 1.3%, for a total of 5.6%
The 4.3% increase figure used by the town is the average amount of increases this year. Raises go into effect on on each employee's anniversary date, causing the amount to be averaged down. Some employee increases were listed higher than the 4.3%, and some lower on the spreadsheet because of the date implemented, but all employees were scheduled to receive an across the board COLA and two step increase.
The 5.6% increase gave me concerns while budget sessions were ongoing because of state imposed tax levy limits that were projected. I had asked that all payroll line items in the budget be rescinded until a budget workshop could be held. Professor Stephen Hintz spoke to the board about his compensation study done in 2006. The study did find Grand Chute administrative employees salaries were below some other municipalities, but Prof. Hintz also indicated his job was to identify the salary discrepancies, and that it was the Town Board's decision on what to do with this information. Prof. Hintz also agreed that when pay increases start outweighing spending caps, the money has to come from somewhere, and ultimately takes away from capital improvements or services, such as hiring new police officers or firefighters.
The state imposed tax levy limit for this year's budget is 3.86%. Next year's limit is 2.0%
With these kind of levy limits, the town needs to look at reducing spending, and that starts with salaries, wages and benefits, which are a large part of the budget. We need to prove to Grand Chute residents that we are being fiscally responsible within our departments, before going to referendum to fill public safety positions. The budget will be finalized at the December 4th town board meeting.
For now, it's good bye from Canada, the hunting party is ready to head out and go further north.
Until next week. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
