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Show Lakeside Review LAKESIDE Tuesday. August 11, 1998 3 Sunset salary schedule sparks heated debate By JaNAE FRANCIS Standard Examiner correspondent SUNSET - Tempers are flaring in this monetarily challenged city over a salary schedule that Kas been approved for months and related issues it has sparked. Councilman Max Hill said he : lias just realized the impact of the schedule he approved during a work meeting last spring that automatically gives each employee a yearly 3 percent pay increase Over and above any pay increases. r Hill said no one had explained tO' him at the time he approved . the policy that it would cost the jqity about an additional $8,000 per year over and above the old salary schedule. In a letter to city officials, Hill said he was not sure the city could afford that kind of a salary increase for employees in a tight budget year. In an interview, Hill said previous step increases were the result of an extensive study done ' cost-of-livi- fel-jo- w by former councilman Arley Wallace, who took into account difficulty, safety factors and pay scales being used in surrounding .cities. f-- said the unsettled issue Hill would be on the agenda for the next city council meeting Aug. 18. He said it would most likely be discussed in a closed session where the public cannot attend because it deals with salary and personnel concerns. Gail Hill, city administrative assistant, presented the salary schedule to the council when it was approved and defended it to city officials during a work meeting last week. She said the schedule was a e way to make step raises fair and equitable for all employees. She pointed out as an example a previous situation where a clerk was given 1.4 percent for her pay-grastep increase while a mechanic was given 2.05 percent. Why? she asked. He is already at his grade based on his performance and job required. Gail Hill said she believed it was unfair to further discriminate in the awarding of pay increases once a grade level had been established. But Max Hill asked who was running the city, Gail Hill or the officials? He said he would have liked to have had more light shed on the issue before he was asked pay-grad- to approve it last spring. Councilman Carl Clayton also expressed some concern over officials being left out of decisions or not being given enough information for making important decisions. We have a mayor and council form of government and if you want to change that, lets put it before the citizens for a vote, Clayton said. Mel Wood agreed that officials need to be more involved in decisions that are made. I could have saved 6 12 percent on this contract that we just approved, he said. But thats another issue. The sometimes heated discussion also turned to a $3,000 raise given to the city recreation director last year that no officials remember approving. Gail Hill said the raise was approved under the direction of former mayor Carol Bellmon and just carried over to this fiscal year. People in this staff are getting crucified for what happened before, Gail Hill said. Wood said the issue was frustrating because no one on the previous counsel remembers ap r .By RUTH MALAN Standard-Examine- r correspondent KAYSVILLE - During last weeks city council meeting, the city council spent more than an hour discussing what should go into a letter sent to city residents. should have been a short meeting ended up being a long because the council ' meeting couldnt agree on what needed to be said in a letter encouraging citizens to attend a truth in taxation hearing on Aug. 18. Because the council feels the public hearing will take a lot of time, voting on whether or not to raise taxes will be the only item on the agenda for the council meeting following the hearing. The council had to include a ' tax increase in the new budget according to state law, even though the increase has not been made. The city is proposing to increase its property tax revenue. .The result of the proposed tax increase would mean the tax on a .$150,000 residence will be $220, and the tax on a business having the same value will be $400. Without the proposed tax increase, the tax on a $150,000 residence would be $144, and the tax on a business would be $262. Property tax revenue collected last year was $790,568. That would increase to $1,304,340 if the proposed tax increase goes through, making an increase of 65 percent. The 1998 proposed tax rate is .002663. Without the proposed increase the rate would be .001744. After reading a draft letter, councilman Arthur Johnson said, I feel there is not enough information in here. We are asking them to send in an opinion without background data. The letter gives the reader the option of sending an opinion to the city office rather than attending the public hearing to voice an opinion. Mayor Brian Cook disagrees that the city should spend $5,500 on a newsletter to tell about the hearing, which he said he isnt in favor of having in the first place. And Cook said he docs not want to have his name associated with the hearing that will determine if property owners will be paying higher taxes. During his campaign for mayor he told residents the roads could eventually be repaired without a tax hike and he intended to keep that promise. Heres what I am facing, Cook said. I dont want my name on a document that I am for taxes or for this meeting. I have had phone calls calling me a liar. This letter should come from the city not from the mayor or city council. But he had added into the letter a paragraph he called the mayors choice where he said he did not want to raise taxes. Councilman Stephen Whitesides said the letter contained sufficient information to let people know something is going to happen, and residents will get the information they need at the 4 sMiiWCH IIUIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIC uOGE PARCIEKS 5.000 sq. M High EfficiencyEnergy All Work SAVE ON ALL SIZES Savings All Work Guaranteed Guaranteed Expert Installations Legs on All Jobs Financing Available Free Estimates Khnarrl STARTING AT s2,795 GAZEBOS $395 STARTING AT IN STOCK PORTABLES K VALIANT 4X8 Sl795 ALL DISPLAY MODELS DRASTICALLY REDUCED. SAVE a A UP TO S 2,000 SUMMER CLEARANCE Reg. $1,B95 mow $1 ,195 SAVE $500 KIT INCL S250 VALUE s J PELLET" GAS FREE STANDING INSERT FREE DLX ACC .X- yys . " ' , , , ' Set Up S200 & Value Lift S 200 Value w'spn purchase Steps & All Ameuccut ' Utah's r- - Srf-,)- r 2 1 Spa Store In Sales & Service 621-195- ,6 it, .i 1 Ogden '3214 Wash. Illvd. 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She said, Im getting told that I axed all these programs and thats not the case. She said fellow officials were present during every budget meeting held and that she alone did not make all the changes in this years budget. City attorney Mark Palmer said guerrilla warfare was not the best way to deal with the is And councilman Darrell Home agreed. I want their at- fPI& A'iI I KH'pI'k )? U , Bilk rds But Johnson held his ground and said the letter did not contain enough information. We need to do everything we can to get people to the hearing, Johnson said. EVERYTHING III THE outlining three rules he believed officials should follow in dealing with city business: positive aspi- rations, lack of animosity and,-,working together for the good' of the community. Former Councilman Scott Mi- - . kesell chastised the elected offi-- J cials for many of their comments t J and concerns. Councilman an In ; interview, Jim Bridges said he did not agree with what had gone on in much of the meeting. Its not right in this level and what were sup- - 1 posed to be doing, he said. And we act like a bunch of theyre right. At one point, mayor Janice Ay DREflF.1 HOME YOU NEED At this point, what works is getting to the issues, he said, makes me angry. You all say the minutes dont reflect what happens in the meetings. If Ive made a mistake, correct me on them. Correct me on them so JOZBEK? tention, to get them here. Johnson suggested having a work session so they can work on the presentation for the public hearing. He also handed the mayor a list of suggestions to be read at the beginning of the hearing to keep the public meeting under control. A public hearing like this can get out of hand and we just dont need that, Johnson said. Although Cook said the tax issue is not a road issue, councilman Robert Rees said it is. We are trying to implement a plan to bring roads up to good condition, Rees said, but we havent made a decision to have a tax increase. I dont even have to consider a tax increase, Cook said. The council and mayor finally agreed on a way to word the letter so it doesn't look like the mayor is in favor of the public hearing or a tax increase. sue. Ys' . Planning Your AFIIID Thats not what happened and that back-stabbi- Council disagrees on letter O Kaysville residents .'will be notified of tax hearing didnt mislead anyone. proving the raise. Clayton said, Ive had three councilmen tell me it was a bodeal nus, that it was a one-tim- e and not a raise. Max Hill also brought up a similar raise given to the city attorney that he said he didnt understand was retroactive and resulted in the attorney being awarded several thousand dollars. Gail Hill said she wanted the to stop because it was ruining the morale of the city employees. Were not soothsayers here, Gail Hill said. We need information. Its not OK to come back two months later and say You misled us. The city employee said she Offers Good Thru O-- G t ; |