Council OKs pay hike for city employees

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005 | 8:49 a.m.

The Boulder City Council approved a contract Tuesday that will increase most city employees' pay by 8 percent by the end of 2006 and requires the city dip into its year-end surplus funds.

The deal with Teasters Local 14, who had been working without a contract since July 1, covers blue collar, clerical, electrical and some supervisory positions in the city. As is the city's practice, the contract with the Teamsters will be extended to other employees not covered by a bargaining unit.

The Teamsters deal calls for a 2 percent cost of living increase, effective June 23, 2005, the pay period when the last contract expired. The employees will also get a 2 percent increase Dec. 22, followed by another 2 percent on June 22, 2006, and another 2 percent on Dec. 21, 2006.

Council members said the raises were warranted because employees received only a 1 percent pay hike from July 2004 through June 2005, but City Manager Vicki Mayes warned the city won't have enough revenue to offer pay raises starting with the 2007-2008 budget year.

Councilman Roger Tobler suggested that the city will have difficult decisions in the next 18 months on whether to cut staff for that budget that starts in July 2007.

The pay hikes approved Tuesday added a cost of about $700,000 to the city's 2005-2006 budget, said Finance Director Bob Kenney. That includes $500,000 from the general fund portion of the budget for which the city had initially projected pay hikes of only 2 percent. That will force the city to use contingency funds to make up the $220,000 shortfall in the general fund, he said. The rest of the pay hikes are covered by the city's utility fund, officials said.

The deal doesn't change the existing pay scale that gives employees annual raises based on a combination of merit and time of service, said Human Resources Director Dee Zambetti. Boulder City also gives longevity pay to employees hired before 1986.

Boulder City has 164 full-time employees. Tuesday's deal doesn't include the city's 16 firefighters and 27 police officers who have separate contracts with the city. Both of those deals have also expired, and the city is still negotiating contracts.

Employees covered by Tuesday's deal who are not Teamsters include department heads and deputies and the municipal court judge.