City employees get 2.5 percent pay raise
By Matt Shaw
Published in News on February 8, 2005 2:15 PM
The Goldsboro City Council agreed Monday night to give city employees a 2.5-percent raise effective immediately.
The cost-of-living raise will mean a $426 annual increase for an entry-level custodian, the city's lowest paid job. Raises for department heads will be in the $1,800-$2,200 range.
The decision will not affect the pay for the council members, the city manager or attorney.
The raise will cost the city $184,000 to pay through June, the end of the fiscal year, and $435,000 in the first full year.
Finance Director Richard Durham and City Manager Joe Huffman told the council that the city was in good financial shape and could afford the raises.
Huffman has compared city salaries to those by competing agencies, he said. "I saw where we have some ground to make up."
During the council's briefing, Councilman Chuck Allen questioned the timing of the request, which had been pushed by former manager Richard Slozak immediately before his retirement last month.
"This has basically been shoved down our throats," Allen said. But neither Allen nor any other council member voted against the raises.
Although city employee have not received a cost-of-living increase since 2002, most did get raises last year. The council voted a year ago to increase the salaries of about 80 percent of the city workforce to bring them more into line with similar city and county jobs in nearby communities.
But this will be the first raise in three years for the remaining 20 percent of employees.